New Delhi, July 08: The Supreme Court has upheld the acquittal of two persons charged 31 years ago with the gory killing of two kids to ward off “evil spirits” but expressed concern over the bane of superstitition in Indian society. “It is a bane of the Indian society that in search of some worldly gains, the society becomes superstitious and blindly follows the path which leads only to desolation.
“A number of lives are lost and a number of families are destroyed because of this false belief in the so-called black magic and so-called supernatural powrs. All this is a result of the total lack of education and human avarice,” a bench of Justices V S Sirpurkar and R M Lodha said in a judgement.
The apex court passed the judgement while dismissing the appeal filed by the Uttar Pradesh government challenging the acquittal of Sahrunnisa and Siraj in the killing that took place on October 27, 1978, at Canal Colony, Allahabad. According to the prosecution, the gruesome killing of Shamshad Ali (7) and Naushad Ali (4) was carried out by their own father Abdul Hafiz Khan with the help of his sister Shakila Bano, wife Sharunnisa and sister”s husband Siraj Khan.
While Khan and his sister allegedly carried out the actual killing, Saharunnisa and Siraj Khan reportedly helped them in the mission. The kids were killed in the belief that they would come back to life after the “evil spirts” that possessed Shakila Banu was warded off by the killings.
—PTI–