Conspiracy to kill man: Youth gets conditional bail

CHENNAI: Stating that the charges fail to come under the definition of ‘terrorist act’, a division bench of the Madras High Court granted bail to a Muslim youth, who was part of a group accused of hatching a conspiracy to murder a Hindu man. The group had allegedly planned to murder the man as he was against his son embracing Islam after marrying a Muslim girl.    

The bench comprising Justices S Vaidyanathan and AD Jagadish Chandira found ‘no reasonable ground’ to believe the charges levelled against the Muslim youth, Sadam Hussain. “Taking into consideration the facts and circumstances of the case in the light of the decisions referred to and a perusal of the case diary, this court is of the opinion that the allegations against the appellant do not fall within the definition of terrorist act and there is no reasonable ground for believing that the accusation against the appellant is prima facie true,” the bench said in the order.

Allowing the criminal appeal filed by Sadam Hussain, the judges quashed the May 12, 2022 order of a vacation and sessions judge of Coimbatore and granted bail to the accused. Sadam Hussain, a native of Tiruchy, was arrested by the Selvapuram police, Coimbatore, on March 8, 2022, for conspiring with five others to murder Kumaresan for opposing his son Arun Kumar embracing Islam after marrying Sahanaazmi of Tiruvarur.

The Selvapuram police slapped several sections under the IPC initially, and sections of Arms Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 were incorporated saying that the intention of all the accused was to murder Kumaresan and thereby ‘create fear’ and ‘strike terror’ in people’s mind.

Though the Coimbatore police requested National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take up the investigation, the central agency rejected it. The bench further stated, “We make it clear that the observations and findings recorded in this judgment are only for the limited purpose of considering the bail application, and the special court shall not be influenced by this during the trial or while rendering its decision.”