'They are mere foot soldiers'

The defence argued for a lenient sentence stating that the convicts were not the masterminds but mere foot soldiers and had already spent 10 years in prison

The Defence advocate on Friday argued on the quantum of sentence for the 12 convicts in the Aurangabad arms haul case. Senior advocate Yug Chaudhry, arguing for a lesser sentence, told court that the accused who were convicted by this court are not the masterminds.

Advocate Yug Chaudhry

"Any of these accused can't even deliver a gun, somebody has got it for them. They are not the archer, they are foot soldiers."

He further argued, "Unless there are aggravating circumstances against them, minimum sentence should be granted."

Chaudhry told the court, "They already have undergone 8 to 10 years in the jail. Please don't send them to jail again. They have gone through enough, they have suffered a lot."

"Even Sanjay Dutt was granted bail by the Supreme Court because he was the outer part of the conspiracy and not the inner part. Would these people be able to do this crime? 10 years are gone. The threat (to the society) that prosecution might cite is gone. 10 years are harsh. Many of them are not even in condition to lead a normal life," Chaudhry argued.

The prosecution will begin arguments today.

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