A court in Kasargod, Kerala, on Tuesday, October 31, sentenced Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) legislator AKM Ashraf, representing the Manjeswaram constituency, to a year’s imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 in a 13-year-old case of assaulting an official. In 2010, Ashraf had picked a fight with a Deputy Tahsildar named A Damodaran while dealing with corrections in the voter list and there was a heated argument which led to an alleged manhandling of the official.
Ashraf was charged with Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter the duties of a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code based on Damodaran’s complaint. He was also booked under Section 141 for unlawful assembly, Onmanorama reported.
Ashraf, along with three other IUML workers, was arraigned as accused and the verdict on Tuesday pronounced all of them guilty. The IUML legislator told Onmanorama that he would appeal against the “verdict delivered without witness or evidence.”
(With IANS inputs)