Four activists of the banned group, Al-Umma, were sentenced...

Four activists of the banned group, Al-Umma, were sentenced to death and four others to life imprisonment by the second fast track court judge, R. Premkumar, in connection with the murder of a traffic constable, R. Selvaraj, on November 29, 1997, over a traffic violation row. Mohamad Safi, Asic, Abbas and Abhudhagir were sentenced to death by hanging under IPC Section 302. The judge said the murder of the police constable while he was discharging his duties was a rarest of the rare incident for which capital punishment alone would suffice. "If this court gives them a lower punishment to enable them to join the mainstream life, there's a chance of them committing a similar offence again. Hence, this court deems it fit to award them capital punishment," the judge said. Before boarding the police vehicle following the verdict, the accused defied the escort cordon to ask the people around "four sentenced to death for the murder of a police constable! What is the justice for the killing of 19 Muslim youth?" referring to the late 1997 riots which ensued following the constable's murder.