Malappuram: Manjeri additional district and sessions court has found five men guilty in the 2016 Mankada ‘moral policing' murder case, with the prosecution maintaining that the incident amounted to mob lynching. The court’s conviction is seen as aligning with the prosecution’s argument, though it was not treated as a ‘rarest of rare’ case.

On February 17, the sessions court convicted Sharafudheen (34), his brother Abdul Naser (41), Abdul Gafoor (53), Sakeer Husain (44), and Muhammed Suhail (35) for offences under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 302 (murder) and 449 (house trespass to commit offence punishable with death) of the Indian Penal Code. Three other accused-Shafeeque,35, Mansoor,35, Abdul Naser,36-were acquitted. 

The quantum of sentence will be pronounced by judge M Thushar on February 20.

The case was related to the death of 42-year-old Nazeer Hussain, who was allegedly beaten to death in the early hours of June 28, 2016, at Koottil in Mankada.  Nazeer had visited a woman’s house around 3 am when a group of local residents, including some of her relatives, confined him in a room and assaulted him with wooden logs and other objects.

The assault reportedly continued for a prolonged period, leaving Nazeer unconscious. Acting on information from local residents, a police team from Mankada reached the spot and shifted him to the hospital. He was later declared dead at a hospital in Perinthalmanna.

The investigation was carried out by a special team led by Inspector AM Sidhique of Perinthalmanna police station.

During the final hearing, the defence sought leniency, stating that the families of the accused were dependent on them. However, Special Public Prosecutor PG Mathew submitted that although the case did not fall under the ‘rarest of rare' category, it was a case of mob lynching and, considering the gravity of the offence, warranted maximum punishment.