[Road Accident Brawl Case] Malegaon Court Directs Convict To Offer Namaz 5 Times A Day For 21 Days & Plant 2 Trees
The high court said that two orders were a suitable admonition under Section 3 of the Probation of Offenders Act of 1958 for the convict.
In a recent case of a road accident brawl in Malegaon, Maharashtra, a Muslim man was convicted by a Magistrate court. As an alternative to imprisonment, the court ordered the man to offer namaz (prayers performed by Muslims) five times a day and plant two trees.
The Magistrate, Tejwant Singh Sandhu, explained that the Probation of Offenders Act of 1958 allows a Magistrate to release a convict after admonition or appropriate warning to prevent the repetition of the offence.
However, the court felt that a mere warning would not be enough and that it was necessary for the convict to remember the warning and his conviction to deter him from repeating such acts.
Court, therefore, directed the convict to plant two trees within the premises of the Sonapura Masjid where the crime had taken place and to take care of them. The accused had informed the court that he was not regularly offering namaz as required by his religion, Islam.
As a result, the court ordered him to offer namaz five times a day for the next 21 days. The Magistrate believed that these two orders were a suitable admonition under Section 3 of the 1958 Act. The convict, who is 30 years old, had been charged in a 2010 case for assaulting and injuring a man during a road accident brawl.
Khan was charged with several offences under the Indian Penal Code, including voluntarily causing hurt, voluntarily causing grievous hurt, an intentional insult to provoke breach of peace, and criminal intimidation. While the Magistrate found Khan guilty under Section 323, he was acquitted of the other charges.
Case title: State of Maharashtra vs Youf Khan
Statue: Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 and Indian Penal Code 1860