Early Times Report
jammu, July 17: In an alleged attack in the 2006 bye-election at Bhaderwah in which one cop was killed and four others were injured, Principal Sessions Judge, Bahderwah, M K Sharma today acquitted Mansoor Ahmed, Bashir Ahmed, Tahir Hussain, Ghulam Jeelani and Abid Hussain, alleged close associates of LeT, as prosecution miserably failed to prove the case against them.
According to the police case, on April 20, 2006 in the evening the police personnel from SOG Poonch had arrived at Bhaderwah in connection with election duty and were waiting under a Chinar tree when some unknown terrorists with an intention to kill them threw a handgrenade towards them and opened indiscriminate fire which was retaliated by the police personnel. In this cross firing, five cops -- Farooq Ahmed, Mohammad Yousaf, Hafeez Ullah, Shoukat Ahmed and Masood Shah -- sustained injuries. Of them, Hafeez Ullah later succumbed to his injuries. This resulted in registration of case No 39/2006 for the commission of offences under sections 302 and 307 RPC, 7/27 Arms Act & 4/5 Explosive Substances Act. During the investigation, IO came to conclusion that On April 10, 2006 at 7 pm, one Abu Tallah, a Pakistani terrorist and District Commander of LeT, met Mansoor Ahmed, Bashir Ahmed and Tahir Hussain and directed them to attack PS Bhaderwah, GREF or vehicles of army or police with grenades and assured to give each Rs 15,000 as prize. On April 20, 2006, Abu Tallah reminded them to execute the plan. Thereafter all the three accused left for Seri Bazar. They kept track on the movement of police personnel. The accused Bashir Ahmed allegedly gave two grenades to Mansoor Ahmed and directed him and Tahir Hussain to go towards the back lane of police station. Bashir then allegedly went to the lane on the backside of Tehsil. On his alleged signal, Mansoor allegedly took out the pin of the grenade and dropped it in the drain and threw the grenade on police personnel inside the police station and fled away. Jeelani and Abid Hussain were allegedly providing shelter, food etc. to the terrorists. The investigation concluded finding the accused Mansoor Ahmed, Bashir Ahmed & Tahir Hussain guilty for the commission of offences punishable u/s 302/307/34 RPC, 7/27 Arms Act whereas finding accused Ghulam Jeelani and Abid Hussain guilty for the commission of offence punishable under section 212 RPC. Accordingly this charge sheet was laid before the Court.
Principal Sessions Judge Bahderwah M K Sharma after hearing both the sides observed that in the instant case the investigating officer did not seal the recovered articles. The investigating officer has stated that the recovered grenades were destroyed on the orders of the Court. He has placed the copy of the order of the court on record but no evidence whatsoever has been adduced to prove the destruction of grenades, which further makes the prosecution story doubtful. Furthermore, the doctor who conducted autopsy on the body of deceased Hafeez Ullah has not been examined to prove the cause of death. The accused Ghulam Jeelani and Abid Hussain have been charged for the commission of offence u/s 212 RPC for harbouring and concealing the terrorists knowing that the persons harboured were terrorists. There is not even a word in whole evidence collected by the prosecution against both these accused. The investigating officer in his testimony has stated that the accused are proved to have committed offences punishable u/s 302/307 RPC, 7/27 Arms Act and 4/5 Explosive Substance Act, without making any mention of offence u/s 212 RPC or the accused Ghulam Jeelani and Abid Hussain.
On the consideration of the evidence on record and broad probabilities, Principal Sessions Judge Bahderwah MK Sharma further observed that the prosecution cannot be said to have established the accusations against the accused.
The prosecution has failed to prove the case against the accused beyond doubt. The challan therefore fails and the accused are acquitted, he ordered. |
