By TCN News,
Kochi: Two persons have approached the NIA special court in Kochi seeking removal from the Panayikkulam SIMI case. The plea was submitted by 10th accused Kadungallore Kunjunnikkara Nisar and 17th accused Paravoor Vayakkad Muhammed Nisar.
The plea reportedly upholds the Supreme Court order that membership in a banned organisation was not enough to prove a person guilty in a crime. The petitioners reportedly say that they had done no crime creating difficulties to the public. As per the order of the Supreme Court, attending a meeting and clapping hands after a speech are not crimes, and so, they should be removed from the case.
The petition was submitted via Adv Thushar Nirmal Sarathi.
A total of 17 persons are accused in the case, among who the first accused PA Shaduli and third accused Ansar Nadwi are in Sabarmati Jail in Gujarat in connection with a case there. However, production warrant has been reportedly issued to produce them in the Kochi NIA court. The case will be considered again on October 10.
The prosecution case has it that the accused had met in a secret meeting of the banned SIMI on August 15, 2006, in the Happy Auditorium at Panayikkulam in Aluva. However, other reports suggest that the group of young men, some of who had earlier worked with the SIMI, assembled in the auditorium on Independence Day to hold a seminar on the ‘role of Muslims in the freedom struggle of India’. The programme was reportedly announced earlier and banner was kept outside the auditorium inviting the public. The police charged into the auditorium and arrested the people there, including speakers and audience, accusing it as a secret meeting of the SIMI, according to reports.