The First Additional District and Sessions Court here on Thursday acquitted all 17 persons accused of having links with terror organisations and waging war against the country in a 2008 case that created a flutter in Karnataka.
Delivering the verdict in the packed court hall, First Additional District and Sessions Judge Gopal Krishna Kolli said the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against all the accused. Hence, giving the “benefit of doubt”, all of them have been acquitted, he said reading out the operative part of the 595-page verdict.
Seven of the accused in the case were present when the verdict was announced. As they came out, teary-eyed parents greeted each other outside the court hall.
In the two cases registered in 2008, three charge sheets were filed against 18 persons, including medical students and professionals. Apart from Section 121 (waging, or attempting to wage war against the Government of India.) of the IPC, the accused were charged under Section 122, 124, 153, 379, 465, 471, 201, Section 10(B) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Section 5 of the Explosive Substances Act.
Of the 18 accused, the name of accused no. 11, Sayyad Nayeem of Gurppanapalya, Bengaluru, was dropped subsequently citing lack of evidence, while Syed Sadiq of Gurappanapalya, Bengaluru, was granted bail four years ego. The rest were in prison for the last seven years.
At the time of arrest, Mohammad Asif of Raichur, Mirza Ahmed Baig of Humnabad and Allabaksh Yadwad of Hubballi were pursuing medicine at the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) in Hubballi. The other arrested were from Vijayapura, Dharwad, Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Udupi in Karnataka, and from different places in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.
After the verdict, the lawyers for the accused, K.M. Shiralli and Ismail Jalagar, said “justice has prevailed”, while Additional Public Prosecutor D.A. Bhandekar said he would study the verdict after getting the certified copy, and give his opinion to his superiors. “The State government will decide on going for an appeal after consulting legal experts,” he said.
