Court admits IC-814 hijack convict’s plea

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 21

The Supreme Court today admitted for hearing an appeal by Abdul Latif Adam Momin, a convict in the sensational hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 to Kandahar in 1999, against the life imprisonment awarded to him.

A Bench headed by Justice PC Ghose admitted Momin’s appeal after his counsel contended that there were flaws in the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s verdict upholding his conviction and life sentence given by a special court in Patiala.

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Flight IC-814 was hijacked on December 24, 1999, on its way from Kathmandu to Delhi with 179 passengers. It was diverted to Amritsar and taken to Kandahar. The government was forced to release Maulana Masood Azhar, Umar Sheikh and Mohammed Zargar. 

The High Court had in  2014 upheld life imprisonment for Momin but rejected the CBI’s demand for capital punishment on the ground that he had been in jail for quite a long period. Momin was held to be one of the conspirators. 

The HC had, however, absolved  Bhupal Man Damai alias Yusuf Nepali and Dilip Kumar Bhujel, holding that the CBI failed to prove their “active participation” in the conspiracy. They were held guilty under Section 25 of Arms Act.

The CBI had named 10 individuals for the conspiracy. While Latif and Bhujel are Indians, Yusuf was from Nepal. All other accused were Pakistanis who had to be declared proclaimed offenders.