Madras High Court grants 3 months leave to 1998 Coimbatore bomb blasts convict, suffering from brain tumour

Justices M. Sundar and M. Nirmal Kumar have granted the leave to N.S. Abdul Hakkim, one of the life convicts in the case who has stage 4 brain cancer, and have directed police personnel on escort duty to not cause any delays in taking him to hospital

The Madras High Court has granted three months leave to N.S. Abdul Hakkim (45), one of the life convicts in the 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blast case, since he is suffering from gliosarcoma (a cancerous brain tumour) stage 4, and the prognosis was that he would survive only for a year or a little more.

Justices M. Sundar and M. Nirmal Kumar allowed a writ petition filed by the convict’s wife seeking three months ordinary leave after her counsel S. Manoharan produced medical reports from the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital in Chennai where the convict had undergone craniotomy surgery.

Since it was reported that he was under the observation of a radiation oncologist in Coimbatore and required further treatment, the judges granted him leave till June 7, 2023, and ordered that he should surrender before the Superintendent of the Central Prison at Puzhal in Chennai at 5 p.m. on that day.

The judges also made it clear that the police personnel, deputed to escort him during the leave period, should not cause any delay in rushing him to the hospital by taking time to obtain permission from their superiors, as Hakkim’s wife had earlier complained, and that his medical treatment should be seamless.

Additional Public Prosecutor R. Muniyapparaj told the court the petitioner’s husband was convicted by a Special Court for bomb blast cases in Coimbatore in 2007 and the High Court had dismissed an appeal preferred by him. However, his further appeal to the Supreme Court in 2011 was pending adjudication.

As many as 58 persons were killed and 250 had suffered injuries when 19 bomb explosions rocked Coimbatore city between February 14 and 17, 1998. The improvised explosive devices, with time delay mechanisms, had been placed in cars, two-wheelers, abandoned bags, push carts, tea cans and so on.

Al-Umma leaders S.A. Basha and Mohammed Ansari were the prime convicts in the case.