[Kalamassery Bus Burning] Thadiyantavida Nazeer enters guilty plea; sentenced to 7 years imprisonment by Kerala NIA Court

A Special Court in Kerala on Monday sentenced Thadiyantavida Nazeer and his accomplice to 7 years rigorous imprisonment in the Kalamassery bus burning case of 2005. Another accused was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for the same crime [Union of India v Nazeer Thadiyantavidatha @ Ummer Haji & Ors.]..The case stems from an incident in September 2005, when a Tamil Nadu government-owned bus operating between Ernakulam and Salem was set on fire. The NIA charge-sheeted 13 persons in the case in 2010, including Thadiyantavida Nazeer, a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative who has been behind bars for over a decade now.The prosecution case was that the accused had set the bus on fire in retaliation to the detention of the Chairman of the People's Democratic Party, Adbul Nazar Madani, who is currently undergoing trial in the 2008 Bangalore serial bomb blasts case. Six of the accused, including Nazeer boarded the bus from Ernakulam while three of the accused waited at Kalamassery. One of the accused allegedly forced the driver at gunpoint to drive the bus to an isolated area, directed the passengers to leave and burnt the bus before fleeing the scene. .Of the 13 accused, the three in the instant, Nazeer, Sabir Buhari and Thajudin, voluntarily entered guilty pleas, which the Court accepted, leading to their conviction in the case.NIA Special Court judge K Kamanees took this into account as well as the young ages of the accused at the time of committing the crimes while sentencing them."The accused persons had been quite young at the time of perpetration of the crime. Their familial circumstances are also among other circumstances to weigh. There has to be a balancing between the aggravating circumstances and mitigating circumstances mentioned supra. The accused persons have volunteered to raise their plea to permit to plead guilty. No proscribed organisation has been seemed to be involved in the perpetration of the crime," the Court said in its judgment.Though the trio were convicted and sentenced for several offences, they are to run concurrently with the sentence under Sections 16(1)(b) and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) being the longest at 7 years rigorous imprisonment."Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and also considering the fact that no proscribed organisation had been involved in the perpetration of the crime, I find that the accused persons Shri. Nazeer Thadiyantavidatha (A1) and Shri. Sabir Buhari (A5) can be sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a term of 7 years each under those counts. They shall also pay a fine at the rate of Rs.50,000/- each for those offences. Default sentences will follow. In case of Shri. Thajudin (A7), he can be sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a term of 6 years each under those counts. He shall also pay a fine at the rate of Rs.25,000/- each for those offences. Default sentences will follow", the judgment stated..Once the three accused entered their guilty pleas, the Court made sure that the same was done voluntarily and with full knowledge of the consequences. It then heard them on the question of imposing sentences. All three spoke of having to take care of their families with Nazeer and Thajudin pointing out that they had both been in jail for the past 12 years and have not seen their children the whole time.It was also pointed out that one of the co-accused was recently convicted in the same crime and sentenced to a maximum of 6 years.However, the prosecution pointed out that the said co-accused did not have any previous convictions as opposed to Nazeer and Buhari whose convictions and sentence in the Kashmir terror recruitment case was recently upheld by the Kerala High Court..For the charges under UAPA which carries a minimum sentence of 5 years, the Court awarded 7 years rigorous imprisonment to Nazeer and Buhari and 6 years to Thajudin. For the offence of criminal conspiracy under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code, Nazeer and Buhari got 7 years and Thajuddin, 5 years. All three were also convicted and sentenced under Sections 121A, 364, 323, 506(ii), 435 of the IPC and under Section 4 of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984. Fines and default sentences were imposed on the accused under each offence..The punishment of seven years imprisonment will be set off for all the three accused considering the number of years they have already spent in jail.Nazeer has been imprisoned for around 12 years, Buhari for 15 years and Thajudin for 6 years.This means that they will not have to undergo any separate jail term in the Kalamassery bus burning case.However, they will not be walking out of jail anytime soon.Nazeer and Buhari are undergoing life imprisonment in the Kashmir terror recruitment case. All three are also under trial in the Bangalore serial bomb blast case and have not been granted bail..[Read Judgment]