Islamic Militant Defies Indian Constitution, Hurls Shoes at Judge

In an open defiance against the Indian State and the Indian Constitution, suspected Islamic State (IS) Terrorist, Mohsinuddin, alias Abu Moosa, hurled his shoes at a City Sessions Court judge in Kolkata during his trial. A thoroughly radicalized Moosa complained he was not being treated well at the Correctional Home. He further declared that the judge had no right to hear his case.

Moosa claimed, “You have no right to judge me. I do not believe in laws created by humans. I do not believe in anything, except Allah and the Quran.” His statement only underlines what Islamic militancy is up to and how it seeks to challenge the basic structure of the Indian State. We can also comprehend the extent and nature of radicalization carried on by these Islamist groups, inciting violence, terrorism and sedition in the name of religion.

Moosa hurled both his shoes at the judge. One of these hit a lawyer present during the hearing, the other landed on the table marked for lawyers in the courtroom. Marking this event as ‘unfortunate’, even Moosa’s lawyer, Dipankar Das Pattanayak, has appealed for the continuation of trial through video conferencing.

Moosa, originally a resident of Birbhum district in West Bengal, was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) from Burdwan station on 04 July 2016, on charges of radicalizing youths to join ISIS. He was absconding after the Khagragarh (Burdwan) blasts which rocked Bengal in October 2013.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) took him in custody and it gradually came to light that Moosa had reached Burdwan station, from where he was arrested, as a part of a plan to kill the members of an influential political family from Dubrajpur in Birbhum district. Later in 2016, a seven-member team of the Federal Bureau of investigation (FBI) interrogated Moosa in Kolkata on his possible links with Syria-based terror groups.

This is, however, not the first time Moosa has created a nuisance. On 03 December 2017, Moosa had tried to slit the throat of an official at the Alipore Correctional Home with a spoon, which he had sharpened to improvise as a knife. The official was seriously wounded and Moosa was shifted to the Presidency jail. Here again, he had attacked the head warden, Amal Karmakar, with an iron pipe. Karmakar had suffered injuries on his head and had to be rushed to the hospital. Such constant nuisances created by Moosa point to how he had been trying to jeopardize the law and order of the State.

The instance of Moosa shows how Islamic militancy is spreading its deep roots in Bengal and how ineffective the law and order situation in Bengal has been in controlling such menaces. The Khagragarh blasts had underlined how these disruptive forces work in connivance with political patronage in Bengal. The site of the Khagragarh blast had been the house of a local Trinamool Congress leader, Nurul Hasan Choudhury, and the ground floor of the building had been used as a Trinamool Congress Party office.

The incident of Moosa hurling his shoes at the Sessions Court Judge during his trial once again Exposes the pathetic plight of law and order in Bengal.