Bomb blasts in Kozhikode: Kerala High Court acquitted Thadiyantevida Nazeer and Shafas prime accused
The Kerala High Court acquitted Thadiyantevida Nazeer and Shafas prime accused.
Bakground
Inexplicable violence as a retaliatory measure against establishments of State, based on religion and community, often questions the secular credentials of a society; particularly of this State which proudly proclaims itself to be the most literate in all of the Country. The reverberations of the two Marad incidents; which remain a blot on the secular fabric of the State, is projected as the motive of the twin blasts which rocked Kozhikode city on the lazy noon.
Accused were alleged to have conspired, planned and executed the twin blasts, for reasons of bail having been denied to the accused in the second Marad incident, in which 136 of the 142 accused remained imprisoned, as under trials, for about four and a half years.
Arguments
Advocate Suresh Babu Thomas, appearing for the accused, argued that the accused was not identified by any one at the scene of occurrence and not even by the approver. The only evidence before Court was that of the approver and the lack of identification demolishes the prosecution case.
Advocate Sonia Mathur, appearing for the NIA, argued for sustaining the judgment insofar as the conviction against the accused.
Decision
The division bench of Justice K.Vinod Chandran and Justice Ziyad Rahman noted that there are no lengthy statements but the disclosures record the confession linking the accused with the crime so unabashedly, that none could escape the innuendo.
The court stated that this is in flagrant violation of Sections 25 and 26 of the Evidence Act and tends to impress upon the Court the need to convict, even without proof beyond reasonable doubt.
The court said that the investigators did not make a concerted effort to ‘go out in the sun’ to collect independent evidence of whatever version the accused told them.
“In their anxiety to wrap up the case; we say anxiety since we do not think the Officers of the NIA would be ignorant of the law on the subject, they even recorded the confessions made by the accused, clearly inadmissible under Section 25 & 26 of the Evidence Act,” the court added.
The court allowed the appeal filed by the accused persons and found no reason to upset the finding of acquittal of other accused persons and rejected the appeal filed by the NIA.
Case title: Thadiyantevida Nazeer @ Ummer Haji @ Haji, Sidhique, Naser and Ors. v/s State of Kerala
Citation: CRL.A NO. 1699 OF 2011
