Tweet
Marad massacre: 24 convicts surrender
The 24 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment by the Kerala High Court on August 16 in the case pertaining to the 2003 massacre of eight Hindus at Marad fishing village surrendered before the Special Marad Court in Kozhikode on Friday afternoon.
The trial court had in 2009 sentenced 62 others to life imprisonment and one to five-year jail term in the case.
All the 24 newly convicted persons, including PP Moideen Koya, former Beypore area president of the Muslim League, surrendered before the trial court by 2.30 pm Friday as the deadline set by the High Court was to expire at 5.00 pm. The trial court had on December 27, 2008 acquitted these 24 persons along with 52 others. There were a total of 139 accused in the case.
Commenting that no proper probe had been conducted into the larger conspiracy behind the massacre and upholding the imprisonment of the 63 earlier by the trial court, the High Court had awarded life imprisonment to 24 more accused accepting the Government’s plea for harsher punishment to the accused.
The case pertained to the massacre of eight Hindus at Marad near Beypore harbor in Kozhikode district on May 2, 2003. A High Court division bench of Justices M Sasidharan Nambiar and P Bhavadasan had also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 each on the 24 convicts who were newly awarded life imprisonment.
Meanwhile, a controversy erupted over the transfer of 32 convicts in the Marad massacre from the Kannur central Prison to the open jail at Nettukatheri in Thiruvananthapuram district. The transfer of the prisoners came to light after one of them, Muhammad Rafi (32), died of cardiac arrest on Thursday.
Legal experts are of the opinion that it is improper to lodge the Marad massacre convicts in the open jail because of the extremist character of the case, which even the court had acknowledged. The CPI(M) has already called for an inquiry into the circumstances in which the Marad convicts were transferred to the open jail.
The 24 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment by the Kerala High Court on August 16 in the case pertaining to the 2003 massacre of eight Hindus at Marad fishing village surrendered before the Special Marad Court in Kozhikode on Friday afternoon.
The trial court had in 2009 sentenced 62 others to life imprisonment and one to five-year jail term in the case.
All the 24 newly convicted persons, including PP Moideen Koya, former Beypore area president of the Muslim League, surrendered before the trial court by 2.30 pm Friday as the deadline set by the High Court was to expire at 5.00 pm. The trial court had on December 27, 2008 acquitted these 24 persons along with 52 others. There were a total of 139 accused in the case.
Commenting that no proper probe had been conducted into the larger conspiracy behind the massacre and upholding the imprisonment of the 63 earlier by the trial court, the High Court had awarded life imprisonment to 24 more accused accepting the Government’s plea for harsher punishment to the accused.
The case pertained to the massacre of eight Hindus at Marad near Beypore harbor in Kozhikode district on May 2, 2003. A High Court division bench of Justices M Sasidharan Nambiar and P Bhavadasan had also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 each on the 24 convicts who were newly awarded life imprisonment.
Meanwhile, a controversy erupted over the transfer of 32 convicts in the Marad massacre from the Kannur central Prison to the open jail at Nettukatheri in Thiruvananthapuram district. The transfer of the prisoners came to light after one of them, Muhammad Rafi (32), died of cardiac arrest on Thursday.
Legal experts are of the opinion that it is improper to lodge the Marad massacre convicts in the open jail because of the extremist character of the case, which even the court had acknowledged. The CPI(M) has already called for an inquiry into the circumstances in which the Marad convicts were transferred to the open jail.
