Ramban, Oct 28, KNT: A court in Ramban has sentenced Mohammad Sharief to two life terms for his role in a July 2005 militant attack in Gool that killed three members of a family, including an infant, bringing a long-running murder case to a conclusion at the trial-court level.
Principal Sessions Judge Ajay Kumar Gupta also imposed fines totalling Rs 2 lakh and awarded additional 10-year rigorous imprisonment terms for offences relating to attempted murder and violations of the Arms Act. All sentences will run concurrently.
The attack took place on July 27, 2005, and targeted the family of Rashid Bohra. Three family members were killed, while other members sustained serious injuries. Sharief was arrested in 2019. His alleged accomplice, Shabir Ahmed, died in 2006.
While rejecting defence arguments over inconsistencies in eyewitness accounts and delays in recording statements, the court held that the testimony of the injured eyewitnesses was reliable and supported by medical and other evidence.
The judge observed that human testimony cannot be expected to reproduce an event with photographic precision, adding that minor discrepancies do not automatically undermine a witness’s credibility when the essential facts remain consistent.
The court also accepted that the delay in recording statements was explained by the severity of the survivors’ injuries. One eyewitness had sustained six bullet wounds and remained unconscious for seven days, while another suffered around 15 to 16 bullet injuries and was also unconscious for about a week. [KNT]
