Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Thursday allowed Yasin Bhatkal, a notorious terrorist and one of the founders of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), to meet his ailing mother via video conference (VC). Bhatkal had initially sought custody parole to meet his mother in person, but the court opted for a virtual meeting instead.
The Additional Sessions Judge, Dr. Hardeep Kaur, ordered the Jail Superintendent to facilitate this one-time video conference between Bhatkal and his mother. The court specified that the interaction should be conducted in Hindi and allowed the Jail Superintendent to record the conversation if necessary for security reasons.
Legal Representation and Request
Advocate MS Khan, along with Qausar Khan, Prashant Prakash, and Rahul Sahani, represented Yasin Bhatkal in this matter. Currently incarcerated in Delhi’s Tihar Jail, Bhatkal sought parole to meet his mother, who recently underwent cardiac surgery.
In his plea, Bhatkal referenced Para 1203 of the Delhi Prison Rules, 2018, which permits custody parole in situations such as death, marriage, serious illness of a family member, or other emergencies approved by the DIG (Range) of prisons.
Background on Yasin Bhatkal
Yasin Bhatkal, whose full name is Syed Mohammed Ahmed Zarar Siddibappa, is a convicted terrorist and one of the co-founders of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), a banned terrorist organization. Along with Riyaz Bhatkal and Iqbal Bhatkal (unrelated to him), he founded the IM in 2005, which has been responsible for multiple deadly attacks across India.
Bhatkal was captured in 2013 and sentenced to death by a Hyderabad court in 2016 for orchestrating several terrorist attacks, making him one of India’s most wanted criminals before his arrest.
