By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Kochi: The Kerala High Court,on Thursday, ordered life imprisonment for six accused in the murder of Yasir. The accused have also been fined for Rs 25,000 each. The judgement of the division bench of the High Court has scrapped the order of the Manjeri sessions court in 2005 by which all the accused were acquitted for lack of evidence. Yasir, native of Tirur, was murdered in 1998.
Madathil Narayanan, Raveendran alias Ravi, Sunil Kumar alias Suni, Manoj Kumar alias Manoj, Kooliparambil Nandakumar and Kattuvilayil Sivaprasad are the accused. The judgement was made by the division bench consisting of Js K Balakrishnan Nair and P Bhavadasan. The court acquitted Nirathil Balakrishnan, the fifth accused, on want of evidence. Puthuppalli Surendran, the fourth accused, is absconding. The High Court also removed the remarks made by the subordinate court about VP Radhakrishnan, the CI of Tirur who was in charge of the investigation.
The accused have to undergo imprisonment under various sections of the IPC like 143 (six months), 147 (one year), 148 (two years), 302 (life imprisonment) and 307 (seven years). Each accused has to pay a fine of Rs 25,000. The court also directed to pay Rs 1, 25,000 from the fine amount to the widow of Yasir and Rs 25,000 to Yasir’s friend Abdul Azeez who also was injured in the attack. The accused have to undergo imprisonment for two more years in case of failure to pay the fine.
Yasir was killed by a group of men, reportedly RSS activists, at around 2 am on August 18, 1998. His friend Abdul Azeez also was seriously injured. Even though the police took them to the Taluk Hospital in Tirur, Yasir succumbed to his injuries. The prosecution case reportedly says that the accused who are RSS activists killed Yasir due to their revenge for the conversion of Yasir, friend Azeez and some others to Islam. The judgement passed by the HC yesterday came in the special revision petition filed by Yasir’s widow Sumayya through Adv CK Sreedharan.
The court reportedly observed that the reasons listed by the subordinate court to set the accused free were illegal and denial of justice. The High Court also expressed displeasure at the judgement of the subordinate court even after the witnesses had recognised the accused during the trial and the prosecution had presented all the relevant documents.
Senior lawyer CK Sreedharan and lawyers Sunny Mathew, PC Noushad and MP Abdul Latheef argued for the petitioner. Public Prosecutor Noble Mathew was present for the government and lawyers PS Sreedharan Pilla, N Bhaskaran Nair and Bodhini argued for the accused.
Yasir was earlier Ayyappan, a Hindu who used to perform religious rites in temples. He reportedly learned about Islam through his friend Jabbar and converted to Islam in 1990. His wife and two children also accompanied him. Ayyappan changed his name as Yasir and his wife became Sumayya. Yasir used to call the Azan very beautifully. With his calm nature and attractive talks, he soon became a good preacher of Islam. About 40 families, reportedly, embraced Islam by his efforts. This made him a sore in the eyes of the RSS which reportedly threatened him in many ways. But Yasir paid no heed to them.
On the day of murder, Yasir came back home late after taking his younger son to the doctor. When his daughter told him that some people had come to the house asking for him, he set out with his brother and friends in an auto rickshaw in the direction the people had left. A group of people stopped the vehicle and scared others away before they attacked Yasir and Azeez. When the police reached the spot, the attackers had escaped. The seriously hurt men were taken to hospital. Yasir succumbed to his injuries, while Azeez was saved.
All the eight accused in the case were acquitted by the sessions court on March 21, 2005. This led to tensions in Tirur in which three people were killed. Yasir’s family welcomed the HC order. Sumayya expressed her gratitude to all those who had helped them in the case.