On Monday (January 30), a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court awarded the death penalty to Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi, for the attack on the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur in April last year.
The NIA and Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) completed the investigation of the case within 9 months. Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi was found guilty under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and convicted for waging a war against the nation.
Abbasi now has the option to appeal the decision in higher courts. In India, the provision of the death penalty is reserved for the ‘rarest of rare’ cases that shake the conscience of society. It has been exercised only 8 times in 21st-century India.
On April 3 last year, Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi attacked police personnel outside Gorakhnath Temple, Gorakhpur. The incident took place a day before CM Yogi Adityanath was scheduled to visit the temple. Abbasi severely injured two Police personnel with a sharp weapon.
It is pertinent to note that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is the head priest (Mahant) of Gorakhnath Temple and has his personal accommodation on the temple premises. At the time of the attack, CM Yogi was not at the temple.
Days after the Gorakhpur temple attack, where Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi forcibly tried to enter the premises of the temple and attacked two cops with sharp weapons, one Maulana Ilyasi told the police that the accused was under the influence of black magic.
Maulana Ilyasi is a teacher in the same Madarsa that Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi attended. Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi’s father had claimed that he was mentally unstable – a claim that the doctors refuted.
Murtaza Abbasi’s interrogation revealed that he was attempting to develop a jihadi app called ‘Jarima’ at the behest of Islamic terror groups. In Arabic, the word ‘Jarima’ means ‘oppression.’
Abbasi used to exchange messages via the Pir2Pir app before creating this Arabic-language jihadi app, which is widely used by Islamic radicals. He was also planning to join the terrorist organization ISIS.