Kochi: Ameerul Islam, the Assam migrant labourer arrested in the Jisha murder case, was remanded in judicial custody till June 30 by the Perumbavur Judicial First Class Magistrate Court on Friday as hundreds of people jostled on the premises to get a glance of the accused. However, they were disappointed as Ameerul was brought to the court with a helmet covering his head under tight police security to avoid any untoward incident.
The Special Investigation Team didn’t seek the custody of the accused as his identification parade is yet to be conducted. Magistrate V. Manju considered the remand application and asked Ameerul whether he wanted any legal assistance to which he replied in the positive. Soon lawyer P. Rajan was appointed his counsel after the former gave his consent. To another query on whether he had any complaint against the police, he said ‘no.’
Wrapping up the court proceedings in just 15 minutes, the magistrate remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days and he was taken to the Kakkanad district jail.
Earlier, the chargesheet submitted by the cops revealed that the Assamese youth was booked under IPC sec 302 (punishment for murder), 376 (rape) and sec 3 of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
“The police didn’t file custody application as the identification parade is to be held in the jail. We’ve submitted the application for this along with the remand application. The same will be held on Saturday and after that a fresh application will be filed in two or three days’ time seeking his custody for 15 days,” said Mr P.M. Abdul Jaleel, assistant public prosecutor.
Earlier, hundreds of people had assembled on the court premises from morning itself to see the accused. The cops ousted all except the court officials and media staff from the court premises and they were allowed to stand only 200 metres from the entrance. The covered police van carrying the accused accompanied by pilot vehicles arrived at the court at 4.41 p.m.
The crowd became restive and in the melee one of the pilot vehicles even brushed against an electric post. Since his identification parade was yet to be done, the cops took extreme care not to reveal Ameerul’s face. After the court proceeding, he was lodged in the Kakkanad jail by 5.30 p.m.
