KOCHI: Observing that the murder of Shaheed Bava in Mukkam on the night of November 9, 2011, was a case of ‘lynching’, the Kerala High Court on Thursday upheld the life imprisonment awarded by the special additional sessions court (Marad cases) to six accused. The court acquitted Abdurahiman alias Cheriyappau, Abdul alias Auto Nazer and Rashid Abdurahiman, the first, fourth and the eighth accused respectively in the case.
Giving its verdict, the court said, “It was evident that the accused persons imposed punishment on the deceased for maintaining a relationship with a woman.”
A Division Bench headed by Justice A M Shaffique upheld the conviction of third accused Abdul Kareem, fifth accused Fayas, sixth accused Najid, ninth accused Hijas Rahman, 10th accused Muhammed Jamsheer and 11th accused Shahul Hameed. The court upheld the life sentence awarded to the accused under section 320 (murder) read with 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of common in prosecution of common object) of IPC.
According to the prosecution, a mob clubbed Shaheed, 27, with sticks and iron rods after tying his hands and legs to an electric post for having an affair with a married woman at Kodiyathur in Mukkam, Kozhikode. He succumbed to injuries in a private hospital in the city after two days.
The Bench observed that it was clear from the evidence that the accused persons inflicted severe injuries on the deceased. They prevented the police from giving necessary medical aid to the injured. “The freedom of thought, action, expression and personal choice of the deceased Shaheed Bava was not being tolerated by the accused on account of self-styled moral code of conduct,” observed the court.
The court said that the deceased tried to escape from the clutches of unruly elements by running away as soon as he apprehended danger. However, the accused chased him, caught hold of him and inflicted injuries. The deceased was assaulted brutally, said the court.
The counsel for the petitioners submitted that the injuries found on the deceased were not intentionally inflicted by the accused and the injuries were not sufficient to cause death.
The contention that the accused did not intend to do away with the deceased is also baseless. “No one has a licence to run around inflicting injuries that are sufficient to cause death,” held the court.
The special court had earlier acquitted Muhammed Salim (second accused), Irshad Kuyyil (seventh), Jaffer alias Bichutta (12th), E Ayoob (13th) and K Murshid (14th accused).