“Jihad literally means struggle, mere use of it does not make one a terrorist”: Maharashtra Court

An additional Sessions judge in Akola held that mere use of the word “jihad” does not mean that the accused is terrorist. Jihad is Arabic word which means striving or struggling. According to BBC the third meaning of Jihad is struggling to make a good society. There the court acquitted all the three accused in the case charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Accused stand tried for an offence u/s 16, 18 of Unlawful activities(prevention) Act 1967, section 4/25 of Arms act, section 307,332,333,353,186 w/r section 120 of Indian Penal Code and section 135 of Bombay police act for having conspiracy to provoke Muslim youths to join terrorist organization and for the commission of terrorist act with dangerous weapon. Further it was alleged that the accused have made a breach of order u/s 37 of the Bombay police act. Accused No.1 (Abdul Malik Abdul) is further tried of an offence u/s 4/25 Arms act for possessing weapons without license.

On 25.09.2015, the eve of Bakri Eid, the police staffs of State Reserve Police Force (S.R.P.F) and local police from Pusad Police station were posted outside Mohammadiya Masjid, Pusad for Bandobast. After 9pm, when people were coming out, suddenly a youth came there along with one cotton bag. He took out knife from the bad and started shouting “Allah-O-Akbar”. He attacked police constable Amol Badukale by knife. He also attacked two other police men, Yogesh and PC Sudarshan. He was moving knife in the air and was shouting “because you brought a beef ban, I will kill you”. The policeman team over powered him. All 3 of the policemen sustained injury. Investigation was entrusted to API Shri Kshirsagar. During research one rampuri knife and one folding knife was recovered. During house search of the accused one iron katta, six note books and some Urdu literature was found. SDPO Ashwini Patil took further investigation under her control. She recorded the statement of the injured witnesses and collected the CCTV footage of the spot. One policeman was recording glimpse in the camera and its soft copy was prepared. During the interrogation it was found that accused No.1 created Whatsapp group with the name “friends forever” and there he used to send Jihad provoking text and 2 voice messages. It was found that he was influenced by the speeches of Masood Azhar, Zakir Naik and terrorist organization Jaish-e-mohammad. He further disclosed that he downloaded the site “Rang-O-Noor” in his mobile and he was listening audio clip “Gajwani-E-Hind”. It was found that accused No.3 Salim Malik is Pesh-e-Inam and he delivered hate and inflammatory speeches in various mosques. During the remand of accused No.1, section 15, 16 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act were added and the further investigation was taken by Anti- terrorist squad.

By referring to the medical evidence the court stated that “from the records it appears that accused has not purposely selected parietal region of PC Amol whereas he has shown his resentment against the government decision over ban on cow slaughtering and took out his anger on police. Therefore the theory of attempt to murder is eliminated from the present case”. The court also held that “there is no iota of evidence that the this incident was done to incite the public against for an offence of riot, I have therefore no hesitation to hold that the prosecution failed to prove an offence punishable under section 153 of IPC”

Accused No.1 by making assault on all the 3 police constables has deter them from discharging their duty thereby he is liable for an offence u/s 324,332 and 353 of IPC.

The court held that “according to the evidence of expert it is not helpful to prove that the accused were involved in terrorist activities. By going through the contents in the audio clips it occurs that accused no.1 has expressed his views against the government. No doubt he used the word “jihad” but for that it was adventurous to jump to the conclusion that he is a terrorist.”

Thus the only main accused is the accused no, 1 Abdul Malik, who was convicted under sections 324,332 and 353 of IPC.

With the help of the present case, a great misconception that Jihad is related to war has been solved. Even the greatest research never took a pain of finding the literal meaning of the word. Klein in The Religion of Islam makes a similar statement: “Jihad — the fighting against unbelievers with the object of either winning them over to Islam, or subduing and exterminating them in case they refuse to become Muslims and the causing of Islam to spread and triumph over all religions is considered a sacred duty of the Muslim nation”. He isn’t the only one who had made such a misstatement and had taken a trouble to consult an ordinary dictionary of the Arabic language. The history is witness the reality that there was not any single terror performance by Muslims since the beginning of Islam till the middle of twenty centuries. Even the Oxford dictionary defines Jihad as “terrorism means the use of violent action in order to achieve political aims or force to government to act” also as “Terrorism is a crime against humanity it targets innocent people it’s aim is to spread fear by killing people and draw a line for his political wishes”. To be proven as terrorist some act has to be done,  mere following jihad ideology doesn’t result in terrorism.

Submitted by-

Bhavya Verma- Intern