A Muslim who was detained in Tamil Nadu for planning to murder a Hindu man was granted bail by the Madras High Court. Sadam Hussain was granted bail by the Madras High Court on Friday after serving over 100 days in jail for the alleged murder of a Kumaresan, a Hindu man, in accordance with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967. (UAPA).

A division bench comprising Justices S. Vaidyanathan and AD Jagdish Chandira decided to grant bail after noting that no one had filed a complaint or claimed to have been harmed in the case and that the UAPA’s provisions had been included “solely to deny/delay” the appellant’s ability to seek release.

The court further concluded that Sadam was not accused of violating the “Terrorist Act” and that there were no grounds to believe that the charges against him are even presumptively genuine.

On March 7, 2022, a police officer caught Sadam after he was found in suspicious circumstances. Upon questioning, Sadam admitted to being a member of the Indian Muslim Development Association (IMDA).

After conducting additional research, Sadam discovered that Bakrudeen had assigned him to a criminal plot to signal his two accomplices to kill Kumaresan because he had objected to Kumaresan’s son’s conversion to Islam after marrying a Muslim woman.

The police further disclosed that all of the accused intended to kill Hindu Kumaresan in order to induce “fear” and “horror” in the minds of individuals of other religions, preventing them from marrying Muslims and converting them to Hinduism.

The court stated that the plan would have been to kill Kumaresan while keeping the killing secret if Saddam had actually meant to kill him in order to prevent his son from converting to Islam. The court further stated that their goal would have been to murder Kumaresan in broad daylight if they wished to inspire dread and panic in people of different faiths.

Sadam Hussain was apprehended by the police who then quickly detained Bakrudeen (54), Imran Khan (39), Mohammad Ali Jinnah (47), and Ramveer (20) based on his confession. Polymer News, a Tamil news outlet at the time, said that the accused planned his murder using phone calls and WhatsApp. According to One India, the NIA learned of their plan to purchase a rifle from West Bengal and informed the TN police about it.

Saddam Hussain was detained by Coimbatore police in March 2022. Investigation revealed that he had been sent to keep an eye on one Kumaresan in order to plan his murder. The Muslim girl’s family was displeased that Kumaresan’s son had wed her. The youngster was asked to convert to Islam, but Kumaresan refused. This infuriated the girl’s relatives, who plotted to have him killed.

Police invoked sections of the Arms Act and UAPA with Sections 153(A) (trying to incite communal unrest) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Criminal Law Amendment (CLA) Act. Later, the case was modified to one under Sections 153A(1)(b), 120(B), and 201 of the IPC, as well as Sections 7(1)(a) of the CLA Act, 1932, and Section 25(1A) of the Arms Act, based on the discovery of three long-sized bill hooks from the other accused.

Following then, it was altered to one in accordance with Sections 153A (1) in light of the Muslim girl’s confession (b).

The court ordered bail for Saddam and told him to refrain from committing any crimes and not tamper with witnesses or evidence in exchange for him signing a bond for Rs. 25,000 with two sureties each for the same amount.

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