Desecration Accused Custody Petition Rejected

Hyderabad: An application for police custody of an accused in the recent case of desecration of a place of worship was dismissed by the trial court on Tuesday. The police sought custody of Abdul Rashid, owner of a hotel, and Rahman, its manager, for custodial interrogation in connection with the incident of October 14.

It was the case of the prosecution that under the guise of a personality development course, one Munawar Zama, along with other accused, was allegedly promoting enmity and religious hatred that led to a student who was attending their course to desecrate the place of worship in Secunderabad. Counsel for the accused argued that the custody petition was filed with ulterior motives and without merit. He contended that the purported reasons for which the police were seeking custody were untenable under the law.

It was brought to the notice of the court that police collected all the material evidence on the date of the incident, the hotel was seized by the revenue divisional officer thereafter and no more evidence could be collected, much less confessional statements under threat and coercion, counsel for the accused argued.

The counsel pointed out that the seizure of the hotel was suspended by the High Court; even before the execution of the order, the police had resorted to unfair means and, by violating the law, proceeded to arrest the accused.

Counsel further argued that the arrest and remand was illegal and a criminal petition challenging the remand order was pending adjudication before the High Court. In such circumstances, granting custody of the accused to the police would be tantamount to further illegality and undue hardship to the accused.