SOURCE :- SIASAT NEWS
Hyderabad: Nearly six years after a quarrel over a street cricket match in Adilabad town ended in a fatal shooting, the Telangana High Court has suspended the life sentence handed to Mohd Farooq Ahmed, the former vice chairman of Adilabad Municipal Council, and granted him bail while his appeal against the conviction remains pending.
A division bench of Justices K Lakshman and K Sujana passed the interim order on Monday, August 31, taking into account that Ahmed has already spent more than five years in jail since December 18, 2020, and that no other criminal cases are pending against him.
Why bail was granted
Central to the bench’s reasoning was the sheer backlog before it. The court noted that it is currently hearing appeals filed in 2017 and 2018, meaning Ahmed’s own appeal, filed in 2022, is unlikely to be taken up any time soon. On that basis, the bench held that his case fell within the parameters laid down by the Supreme Court for suspending a sentence where an appellant has served substantial time with no realistic prospect of an early hearing.
Ahmed has been directed to furnish a personal bond of Rs 25,000 with two sureties, and has been placed under a strict condition not to involve himself in any criminal activity while out on bail.
The 2020 shooting
The case dates back to the night of December 18, 2020, at Tatiguda colony in Adilabad town, when a scuffle between two groups of children over a cricket match escalated after their parents got involved. Ahmed, then the district president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), a post he was later suspended from, opened fire with his licensed weapon on a rival group and also attacked them with a bladed weapon.
Video of the attack, filmed by onlookers, circulated widely on social media at the time and formed part of the case against him.
Three people were injured – former Adilabad municipal councillor Syed Zameer, 55, his brother Syed Mannan, 52, and his nephew Syed Mohtesham, 16. Zameer, who sustained bullet injuries to the abdomen, was shifted to a hospital in Hyderabad in critical condition and died on December 26, 2020, prompting police to convert the case into one of murder.
In January 2022, a special fast-track court in Adilabad convicted Ahmed and sentenced him to life imprisonment for murder, seven years’ rigorous imprisonment for attempt to murder for injuring the other two victims and three years under the Arms Act, with all sentences to run concurrently, along with a fine. The prosecution had pressed for the death penalty, arguing the case fell in the “rarest of rare” category, but the trial court declined and imposed life imprisonment instead.
Two other accused in the case were acquitted.
SOURCE : SIASAT
