Lilith
09-01-2004, 05:25 AM
(submitted by gekkogecko)
Reuters to
My Yahoo!
AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - An Indian man charged
over the train torching that triggered Gujarat's
Hindu-Muslim bloodshed two years ago has asked for
bail so he can go home to have sex with his wife,
court officials said on Tuesday.
Firozkhan Zafarkhan's two-page handwritten application
to the court in the state's main city, Ahmedabad (news
- web sites), says he and his wife are suffering
mental trauma because their physical needs have not
been met for such a long time.
He wants to be allowed out of jail for 30 days.
Zafarkhan, a Muslim, said his religion and India's
conservative culture forbid him from having sex with
anyone but his wife.
He is charged under a tough anti-terrorism law with
being part of a mob that torched a train in the
Gujarat city of Godhra in February 2001, burning alive
59 Hindu pilgrims, including many women and children.
That incident triggered days of communal violence,
India's worst in a decade, in which human rights
groups say more than 2,000 people, mainly Muslims,
were burned and hacked to death.
The anti-terrorism law makes bail almost impossible,
but astonished prosecutors have not yet decided what
to do. "It's an unprecedented bail application," said
one, Sudhir Brahmbhatt." We have not decided whether
to oppose this or not."
Reuters to
My Yahoo!
AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - An Indian man charged
over the train torching that triggered Gujarat's
Hindu-Muslim bloodshed two years ago has asked for
bail so he can go home to have sex with his wife,
court officials said on Tuesday.
Firozkhan Zafarkhan's two-page handwritten application
to the court in the state's main city, Ahmedabad (news
- web sites), says he and his wife are suffering
mental trauma because their physical needs have not
been met for such a long time.
He wants to be allowed out of jail for 30 days.
Zafarkhan, a Muslim, said his religion and India's
conservative culture forbid him from having sex with
anyone but his wife.
He is charged under a tough anti-terrorism law with
being part of a mob that torched a train in the
Gujarat city of Godhra in February 2001, burning alive
59 Hindu pilgrims, including many women and children.
That incident triggered days of communal violence,
India's worst in a decade, in which human rights
groups say more than 2,000 people, mainly Muslims,
were burned and hacked to death.
The anti-terrorism law makes bail almost impossible,
but astonished prosecutors have not yet decided what
to do. "It's an unprecedented bail application," said
one, Sudhir Brahmbhatt." We have not decided whether
to oppose this or not."