Kerala High Court said, no religion spreads terrorism or hatred. (file)
Kochi:
The Kerala High Court has refused to stay the sentence of three people convicted of trying to travel to Syria to join ISIS, saying terrorism is an evil affecting the life and liberty of the people and the development of the country.
The Court said that no religion spreads terrorism or hatred, but some fanatics or religious fanatics have distorted the ideas of religion to spread the message of terrorism and hatred.
A bench of Justice Alexander Thomas and Justice Sophie Thomas suspended the sentence and refused to grant bail to all three – Midlaj, Abdul Razak and Hamsa – considering the gravity of the offense prima facie proved against them, even though they were involved in a major Have passed through of his sentence.
“Terrorism is an evil affecting the life and liberty of the people. It affects the development of the nation in all respects. In fact, no religion propagates terrorism or hatred.”
“But, unfortunately, some fundamentalists or religious fanatics have distorted the ideas of religion to spread messages of terrorism and hatred, without realizing how much harm it is causing to the society as well as the country as a whole.” the court said.
The court, in its order, observed that innocent youths who are attracted by the call of terrorist organizations become victims of violence and anti-national activities, destroy peace in the society, disregard the freedom, liberty and security of their fellow beings and the integrity of the country. become Nation.
It noted that the applications of the convicts were to be considered seriously as they were working against the security and integrity of the nation and the freedom and liberty of the citizens.
The Court observed, “Considering the seriousness of the prima facie offense proved against the applicants/appellants, although they (a) have served major portion of their sentence, we are inclined to suspend their sentence and release them on bail for the time being.” not wanting.” In its order dated 10 February.
According to the prosecution, the accused persons, six in number, attempted to join a terrorist organization to engage in violent “jihad” to wage war against the Asian powers in peace with the Government of India.
Midlaj and Razak were stopped by Turkish authorities when they were trying to enter Syria and deported to India. Hamsa was arrested when he canceled a ticket to leave India after learning that another accused in the same case had been arrested from the Mangaluru airport.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) told the court that Hamsa was “one of the masterminds of inculcating ISIS/DASH ideology in Kerala, inducting and recruiting youth into the banned terrorist organization besides motivating and sending them to the Islamic State”. .
He was arrested on October 25, 2017 and indicted on July 15, 2022.
The accused argued that since the compounding for the period of remand was allowed during the trial, a major part of their sentence had already expired and the remaining period was less than two years.
He claimed that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt and that he had every chance of succeeding on appeal. He sought suspension of sentence and release on bail, otherwise the appeal may become infructuous.
The High Court noted that the nature of the offense alleged against the convicts was of “very serious nature”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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