Excerpt:
From a tooth and shoulder pain to displaying a clear bias in favour of the government, there was a diversity of reasons why some 20 potential jurors were excused May 17 by a federal judge here from participating in the trial of Mumbai terror plot suspect Tahawwur Hussain Rana.
Judge James Leinenweber spent the entire day questioning possible jurors, keeping the main thrust of his inquiry on establishing whether they had demonstrably negative views about Islam as a religion and Muslims as a community. While by and large the jurors said they had no particular antipathy towards either, some, such as juror number 14, said he did not respect Islam.
In his reply to a questionnaire that was distributed among the potential 100 jurors May 16, this particular juror reportedly wrote "Terrorists are mainly Muslims, or am I wrong?" He was promptly excused by the judge in the interest of a fair trial for Rana.