The State government on Thursday filed an appeal before the Kerala High Court against the verdict of the Kasaragod District and Sessions Court acquitting the three Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh workers in the murder of madrasa teacher Mohammed Riyas Maulavi.
In its appeal, the government said circumstantial evidence produced in the case was such that there was no scope for acquittal of the accused. The evidence produced were clear and unimpeachable.
The sessions court was wholly unjustified in discarding the clear and clinching evidence pointing to the guilt of the accused. The reasons given by the trial court to acquit the accused was farfetched and fanciful. The order on the acquittal of the accused was faulty and shocking to judicial conscience.
Though the prosecution was able to produce evidence of sterling witnesses, the trial court found these witnesses to be unreliable on wholly justifiable reasons. The appreciation of evidence by the trial court was wholly against the principles of law laid down by the Supreme Court.
The finding of the trial court that the prosecution failed to prove the motive of the accused to commit the crime was erroneous. The observation that the prosecution failed to prove that the accused belonged to the RSS was also against the evidence produced by the prosecution.
The evidence tendered by the prosecution was capable enough to prove that the accused entertained hostility against persons belonging to Muslim community. The rejection of the evidence given in this regard was illegal and unjustifiable.
The trial court’s another finding that there was a failure on the part of the investigation team in conducting probe and collecting scientific and other evidence were contrary to the facts.
The investigation team had made commendable efforts to unearth the crime and collect all the materials proving involvement of the accused in the crime. The appreciation of the evidence was totally against the settled principles laid down by the Supreme Court. The trial court should have convicted all the three accused.
Published - April 04, 2024 07:58 pm IST
