'Atiq Ahmed will do anything even from jail': Umesh Pal's mother
Special judge Dinesh Chandra Shukla fined Atiq and the other two convicts - Dinesh Pasi and Saulat Hanif, a lawyer - Rs 5,000 each, besides ordering them to pay Rs 1 lakh each in compensation to Umesh's family.
FollowMinutes after a special court on Tuesday (March 28) convicted former SP MLA and MP Atiq Ahmed and sentenced him to life term for kidnapping and torturing then zila parishad member Umesh Pal in 2006, Umesh's mother Shanti Devi said she had "full faith" in the country's judiciary, but expressed apprehension that Atiq "can do anything even from jail".
She also request the court to award him capital punishment for getting his son killed. She also alluded to the case pertaining to her son's murder.
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The court acquitted Atiq's brother Khalid Azim and six other accused, saying the prosecution "failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt" their alleged complicity in the conspiracy.
Special judge Dinesh Chandra Shukla fined Atiq and the other two convicts - Dinesh Pasi and Saulat Hanif, a lawyer - Rs 5,000 each, besides ordering them to pay Rs 1 lakh each in compensation to Umesh's family.
"The convicts forced him (Umesh) to give a favourable testimony in favour of the accused (in the MLA murder)," the court said.
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"Hanif had a paper in his hand wherein was written a statement proving Umesh Pal had been forced to retract his testimony and turn hostile in the (MLA murder) case. It all hurts the entire judicial system and shakes the confidence of people in the judicial system," the court further said.
The three accused were convicted under Section 364A of the IPC, under which the maximum sentence is capital punishment.
"I have respect for the judiciary, but saza galat hui hai (the punishment has been wrongly dealt). I intend to appeal the verdict in the HC," Atiq said while being brought out of the court.
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Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Supreme Court refused to entertain Atiq Ahmad's plea for protection to his life while being in custody in Uttar Pradesh. As Ahmed's lawyer made an impassioned plea before a bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi that his life was at stake and a word from the bench could protect his life, the court said, "State is bound to protect you."
