Thursday, Feb 27, 2003
Thursday, Feb 27, 2003 |
| Southern States | ||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Southern States
-
Tamil Nadu
By A. Subramani
(Twentyfour persons lost their lives in the communal riots, which followed the murder of the constable at Ukkadam, Coimbatore, on November 29, 1997, and property worth about Rs. 70 crores was destroyed. In the subsequent serial bomb blasts, which rocked the textile city, 59 persons were killed and 249 injured.) Refusing to believe the accounts of persons arraigned as key prosecution witnesses, a Division Bench comprising Justice N. Dhinakar and Justice R. Balasubramanian said: "In a grave crime like murder, it would be extremely unsafe to act on the evidence of these witnesses who came before the police for the first time, almost a year after the incident had taken place, and said they saw the occurrence".
Why no identification parade?
Stating that only a constable Dharmalingam, who was regulating traffic a little away from the place where Selvaraj was stabbed, could have witnessed the incident, the Bench said: "When the constable claimed to have seen five or eight assailants attacking Selvaraj, we find no reason why no identification parade was conducted by the investigating team. It only shows that the constable, though witness to the incident, did not know who the assailants were. Moreover, he did not give any evidence pertaining to their identity in court". Doubting the reliability of two other key `chance witnesses', who claimed to know the identity of some of the assailants, the judges pointed out that neither Dharmalingam nor an autorickshaw driver, who helped to transport Selvaraj to hospital, referred to the presence of the first and second prosecution witnesses. As there was no big crowd surrounding the victim immediately after the incident, Dharmalingam and the auto driver could not have failed to notice the `witnesses'. "He does not even whisper about the presence of these witnesses in his evidence".
Number discrepancy
Another major factor, which failed to convince the judges pertained to a discrepancy in the serial number of the first information report as found in a printed book. "After going through the exhibits, we find that after filing the FIR, the investigating police station would have at least 39 or 40 FIR leaves available for utilisation in the very same book". Also the investigating officer himself admitted that there was a `vast difference' in the serial number. The judges concluded that the FIR leaf based on which the prosecution was built up must have come from a different FIR book of a different station. Citing another admission by the officer that the FIR book had been `destroyed', the Bench said, "we find no satisfactory reply to why it was destroyed, that too when adjudication is still pending."
No legal material
The Bench said there was no legal material to connect the accused with the crime, and "we are unable to find any answer in respect of these doubts in favour of the prosecution. In fact, we have no hesitation giving the benefit of the doubt to the accused.'' "Accordingly, giving the benefit of the cumulative effect of all doubts, we are inclined to set aside the judgment under challenge, and acquit all the accused of all offences for which they are charged, tried and convicted." The trial court had sentenced to death Mohammad Shafi, Ashik, Abbas and Abuthagir, while Siddique Ali, Aslam, Samsudien and Mohammad Ansari were awarded life imprisonment.
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2003, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
