Decide in 6 months remission plea of LeT operative sentenced to life: Gujarat HC

Shahnawaz Bhatti, a Pakistani national, was arrested near the Kutch border in 2001, along with 22 kg of RDX, an AK-56 assault rifle, and ammunition

Updated on: Jun 26, 2026, 22:08:37 IST

By Maulik Pathak

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The Gujarat High Court has directed the state government to decide within six months the remission plea of a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Shahnawaz Bhatti, who is serving a life term after being arrested with 22 kg of RDX in 2001.

Justice Mengdey passed the direction on June 17 after being informed that the opinion of the Jail Advisory Committee had been sought on Bhatti’s request

Justice MR Mengdey passed the direction on June 17 after being informed that the opinion of the Jail Advisory Committee had been sought on Bhatti’s remission application.

“Having regard to these aspects, the concerned authority shall take an appropriate decision, in accordance with law, with regard to grant of remission to the petitioner, as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of six months from the date of receipt of the order,” justice Mengdey said.

Bhatti, a Pakistani national, was arrested near the Kutch border in 2001, along with 22 kg of RDX, an AK-56 assault rifle, and ammunition. Investigators alleged that he had infiltrated India as part of a Lashkar-e-Taiba conspiracy to carry out terrorist activities.

A trial court in Kutch sentenced Bhatti to death. But the Gujarat high court declined to confirm the capital punishment in August 2007 and commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment.

In his petition to the high court, Bhatti submitted that he had spent more than two decades in prison without being released on parole and that his application for remission had remained pending for nearly two years.

Taking note of the jail authorities’ submission that the process for considering remission had already commenced with the opinion of the Jail Advisory Committee, the court directed the competent authority to complete the exercise and take a decision in accordance with law within six months.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maulik Pathak
He is an Ahmedabad-based journalist with more than two decades of experience. His career spans business journalism and general news, with reporting across politics, crime, governance, public policy, business, industry, infrastructure, energy, ports, aviation, the environment, wildlife and social issues. He began his career in feature writing before moving into business journalism, reporting on companies and sectors including energy, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and real estate. Over the years, his work expanded to politics, courts, crime, public policy, civic affairs, the environment and wildlife. His reporting has taken him from government offices and courtrooms to factory floors, ports, forests and remote villages, covering stories that range from industrial investments and financial markets to elections, conservation and issues affecting everyday life. While many assignments demand the pace of the daily news cycle, others require sustained reporting over months and years to follow developments beyond the headlines. He started his journalism career with the Asian Age in Ahmedabad in 2002 as a feature writer and sub-editor. Since 2022, he has been working with Hindustan Times. Earlier, he worked with Business Standard, DNA, The Economic Times, Mint and The Times of India. His longest stint was with Mint, where he spent more than eight years reporting across multiple beats. During his career, he has worked in both reporting and editing roles, contributing to page planning, local editions and special editorial projects as newsrooms evolved from print-first operations to digital publishing. Early in his career, he also worked on media and documentary projects with an NGO and as a copywriter at a communications agency before returning to journalism. Away from work, he sometimes makes time for a pair of binoculars, table tennis, cinema and the occasional poem.Read More

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