Slain student's mother seeks death for MP
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
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Patna • The mother of a slain student leader is demanding the death penalty for Mohammed Shahabuddin for his murder following the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP's conviction in another criminal case.
Men loyal to Shahabuddin shot dead in 1997 Kaushalya Devi's son Chandrasekhar, who was a left-wing student leader at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), according to the police.
The student was linked to the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML).
Days after Shahabuddin was convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment for his role in the abduction of another CPI-ML activist Keshav Baitha and vandalism in Siwan in 1998, Kaushalya Devi said the politician should be hanged for killing her son and several other innocent people.
"I appeal to the court to award him the death sentence because he deserves only that," said a frail Kaushalya Devi, now in her mid 50s.
Chandrasekhar, then the president of the JNU Students Union, was killed in Siwan.
Keshav Baitha was abducted, kept in confinement and severely beaten up by the RJD leader and nearly 20 thugs, according to the police.
If there is any single person who is openly lauding the court's verdict against Shahabuddin in Siwan, it is Kaushalya Devi. She was the first witness in the case of attack on the CPI-ML office and assault on the party workers.
A special trial court built within the confines of Siwan Jail to speed up more than 30 cases against the RJD MP from Siwan sentenced him to two years' rigorous imprisonment after finding him guilty in the attack on Baitha.
Kaushalya Devi said she would meet Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and thank him for the trial of Shahabuddin.
"I will also make a formal appeal to Nitish Kumar to speed up the investigation in the killing of my son," she said. Shahabuddin is the prime accused in the killing of her son.
Shahabuddin, MP from Siwan, is facing 34 cases including those of murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and violation of the Foreign Exchange Act and the Arms Act. Charge-sheets have been filed in all these cases. Penensula
posted by Resistance 3/06/2007 11:22:00 PM,
