Ramban Court awards two life terms to convicted militant in 2005 Gool attack

RAMBAN — A court in Ramban has sentenced Mohammad Sharief to two life terms for his role in a July 2005 militant attack in Gool that killed three members of a family, including an infant, bringing the long-running case to a conclusion at the trial-court level.

Principal Sessions Judge Ajay Kumar Gupta also imposed fines totalling ₹2 lakh and awarded additional 10-year rigorous imprisonment terms for offences relating to attempted murder and violations of the Arms Act. All sentences will run concurrently.

The attack took place on July 27, 2005, and targeted the family of Rashid Bohra. Three family members were killed, while other members sustained serious injuries.

Sharief was arrested in 2019. His alleged accomplice, Shabir Ahmed, died in 2006.

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While rejecting defence arguments concerning inconsistencies in eyewitness accounts and delays in recording statements, the court held that the testimony of injured eyewitnesses was reliable and supported by medical and other evidence.

The judge observed that human testimony could not be expected to reproduce an event with photographic precision, adding that minor discrepancies did not automatically undermine a witness’s credibility when the essential facts remained consistent.

The court also accepted the explanation that the delay in recording statements resulted from the severity of the survivors’ injuries.

One eyewitness had sustained six bullet wounds and remained unconscious for seven days, while another suffered around 15 to 16 bullet injuries and was also unconscious for about a week.