“Justice will be done only when the guilty will be hanged… Money holds little value when compared to my son’s life,” said Aasiya Begum, mother of Khwaja Yunus, the Dubai-based engineer arrested for his alleged role in the 2002 blast case.
After the Bombay high court refused sanction to prosecute the other 10 police officers, who were allegedly involved in the Khwaja Yunus custodial death case, his family is now planning to approach the Supreme Court for justice.
While CID, the investigating agency in the case, sought sanction to prosecute 14 policemen, the DGP and the government gave the nod to prosecute only four, namely assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze and constables Rajendra Nikam, Rajendra Tiwari and Sunil Desai.
Stating that her fight for justice would continue even after “we take the compensation”, Aasiya told DNA from Parbhani district in the Marathwada region, “I lost my son nine years ago and I want justice for him. If the CID says there were 10 other officers involved, then they too should be put to trial.”
Dr Abdul Mateen, who was arrested for the same case and kept in the lock-up next to Yunus’s at the Ghatkopar police station, had also testified that Yunus was beaten mercilessly. “An eyewitness, Mateen has named all the officers who assaulted Yunus. Then why aren’t they being prosecuted?” asked the mother.
Yunus’s brother Sayyed Khwaja Hussain said they will go through the judgment copy, apart from discussing the matter with their lawyer Mihir Desai. “We are awaiting a judgment copy before taking any further steps,” said Hussain.
The state government is also considering approaching the Supreme Court to challenge the court’s decision to pay Rs20 lakh as compensation.
