KOCHI: Muslims having radical thoughts should realise from India’s history since the Partition that the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence, the Kerala High Court said in a judgment while upholding the conviction of the accused in a Kashmir terror recruitment case.
A division bench comprising justices K Vinod Chandran and C Jayachandran also pointed out that not a single instance of Muslims being held hostage in Hindu-majority India during conflicts with Pakistan has occurred since the Partition.
The court upheld the life sentences imposed on all except three of the accused in the terror recruitment case, including Thadiyantavide Nazeer, who is alleged to be the Kerala commander of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
While appreciating NIA and the Kerala Police for the tremendous work put in by travelling the length and breadth of the country to bring the terror accused before the law, the court said, “For those who have such radical thoughts, we can only say that the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence, if you just look at history.”
Quoting chapter 5 of the book ‘Freedom at Midnight’, by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, the court noted that the authors had said in the chapter about the Partition that Muslims in India would be “Islands in a Hindu sea, they would be the first victims of a conflict between the countries, India’s Moslem hostages to Pakistan’s good behavior.”
The court then said in the judgment, “In the three score years and a dozen hence, there has neither been a single instance of a hostage situation, nor was there good behavior, as contemplated by the Authors.”
Prosecution had alleged that men were recruited from Kerala in the name of religious classes in 2008 and were to be sent to Pakistan to obtain arms training so as to return to India and commit terror acts. In an encounter with the Indian army in Kashmir, three of the youths had died and one of the recruits had confessed about the recruitment.
In the judgment authored by justice Vinod Chandran, the court said in the opening paragraph, “Lured by the pleasures of a heavenly paradise, achieved only by killing human brethren and fellow nationals, five young men journeyed to the ‘Paradise on Earth’, only to embrace death before becoming its messengers. Whether the dead now enjoy the pleasures of the elusive paradise is a moot question but they sure created a living hell for their families who were plunged in grief, coupled with shame.”
Radical Muslims should realise grass is not greener in Pakistan: Kerala HC in terror recruitment case
