A person cannot be branded as a terrorist merely for using the word “jihad”, a court in Akola observed while acquitting three accused of terror charges.
The court of special judge A.S. Jadhav was hearing a case against three people accused under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Arms Act and Bombay Police Act.
Abdul Razzaque (24), Shoeb Khan (24) and Salim Malik (26) were booked under various Indian Penal Code sections, including 307 (attempt to murder) and 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), following an attack on policemen outside a mosque in Pusad on September 25, 2015, over the beef ban in the State.
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Prosecution’s case
According to the prosecution, Mr. Razzaque arrived at the mosque, stabbed two on-duty policemen with a knife, and said he would kill policemen because of the beef ban. The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) claimed the accused were part of a conspiracy to influence Muslim youths to join terrorist organisations.
Judge Jadhav observed, “It appears that accused Razzaque exhibited his anger by violence against the government and some Hindu organisations for ban on cow slaughter … No doubt he used the word ‘jihad’. But it was adventurous to jump to the conclusion that only for using the word ‘jihad’ he should be branded as a terrorist,” he said.
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Citing dictionary
According to dictionary, the word ‘jihad’ literally means “struggle”, he pointed out. “Jihad is an Arabic word which literally means striving or struggling … therefore merely the use of word ‘jihad’ by the accused would not be proper to brand him as a terrorist,” the judge said.
Mr. Razzaque was convicted and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for voluntarily causing hurt to policemen. As he had been in jail since September 25, 2015, he was released following the court order.