By Najiya O., TwoCircles.net,
Kochi: A national forum of lawyers was formed in Chennai yesterday in a meeting of lawyers called by the Popular Front of India. The ‘National Lawyers Network’ has been constituted to attend cases of human rights violations and false implication of minorities.
Adv IM Munshi from Ahmedabad was elected the President and Adv Bahar U Barqi from Delhi was elected the general secretary of the ‘Network’. Adv KP Mohamed Sherif from Kerala has been elected the national coordinator.
Adv Bahar U Barqi from Supreme Court addressing the conference
Adv Aneez Ali (Bangalore, Karnataka), Adv Ahmed Basha (Vijayawada, AP) and Adv Munavar Syed (Pune, Maharashtra) were elected as vice-presidents. Adv PC Noushad (Kerala), Adv Khizer Patel (Aurangabad) and Adv Mohamed Shahjahan (Madurai, TN) were elected secretaries. Adv Khalid Sheikh (Ahmedabad, Gujarat) was elected as the treasurer of the forum.
The meeting was presided over by Adv IM Munshi. Adv Bahar U Barqi delivered the key-note address and Adv KP Mohamed Sherif gave the introductory remarks. EM Abdur Rahman, chairman, Popular Front of India, addressed the meeting which was attended by 50 advocates from different states.
The forum recommended that the statuettes governing the Criminal Procedure Code should be amended in order to facilitate speedy trial, make the bail provisions liberal and to provide appropriate compensation for the accused who are acquitted.
Other recommendations put forward by the forum were
1. The Central Government should table the Liberhan Commission Report in the current session of the Parliament. The state government of Uttar Pradesh should immediately recover the documents pertaining to the Babri Masjid title suite which are reported to be lost.
2. The innocent people imprisoned in Mysore should be released immediately and the false cases implicated upon them including the cadres and leaders of the Popular Front of India should be withdrawn.
3. The Tamil Nadu state government should end discrimination in granting remission to prisoners on religious grounds.
Adv Noushad welcomed the gathering and Adv Aneez Ali gave the vote of thanks.
“What we plan through the network is to bring to light the discrimination faced by certain groups of people from the eyes law and try to end that discrimination,” said Adv PC Noushad, hinting towards the difference on the part of even lawyers in dealing with terror cases with Muslims as the accused and the Malegaon case.