U'khand fake encounter: HC sentences 7 cops to life

The Delhi High Court today sentenced seven Uttarakhand policemen to life imprisonment for killing a MBA student in a fake encounter in 2009 in Dehradun, holding that extra judicial killing has no place in a system governed by the rule of law.
However, the court set aside the life term and the conviction of 10 other cops on the charge of conspiring to kidnap and murder the youth, saying the circumstances do not prove their culpability.
Ranbir Singh, 22, a resident of Ghaziabad, was gunned down by the police on July 3, 2009, in the Ladpur forest area in Dehradun.

The court did not accept the version of the police that they gunned him down as he was fleeing after beating up and snatching the service weapon of one of the cops who was on duty in view of the visit of the then President.
The court noted that public humiliation of the cop as stated by the witnesses was the motive behind the shooting of the victim which was later dubbed by the police as an encounter.
CBI, which was entrusted with the probe, declared it as a fake encounter and the case was transferred to Delhi by the Supreme Court.

Agreeing with the findings of the agency, a bench of Justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta in its 105-page judgement said fake encounter "is a form of extra judicial killing" which has no place in a legal system governed by the rule of law.

"It is a manifestation of the impunity with which armed forces, including the police, are prone to act in utter disregard of the rule of law.
"It is also symbolic of the cynicism with which the police themselves view the efficacy of the criminal justice system. The police, in this perception, are not just the accusers, but the prosecutor, the judge and the executioner," the bench said.

"The lawlessness of a police force, which is what a fake encounter represents, is not a new phenomenon. It is universal too," the bench added.
The court, which termed the incident a "tragic case", upheld the trial court verdict convicting and sentencing to life Sub-Inspectors Santosh Kumar Jaiswal, Gopal Dutt Bhatt (SHO), Rajesh Bisht, Neeraj Kumar, Nitin Chauhan, Chander Mohan Singh Rawat and constable Ajit Singh. All the seven are under suspension.
It, however, acquitted 10 others -- constables Satbir Singh, Sunil Saini, Chander Pal, Saurabh Nautiyal, Nagender Rathi, Vikas Chander Baluni, Sanjay Rawat and Manoj Kumar, and drivers Mohan Singh Rana and Inderbhan Singh.

These 10 policemen were convicted and sentenced to life by the trial court on the charges of conspiring with other cops to kidnap and murder the youth.
Besides the 17, the last accused Jaspal Singh Gosain, then head operator at the city control room, who was sentenced to two years jail by the trial court for the offence of public servant framing incorrect record or writing with intent to save person from punishment, was also absolved by the high court.
Noting that a large number of prosecution witnesses turned hostile, the high court said this was yet another case that "underscores the urgent need for a robust scheme of protection to witnesses and victims".

"Although the Law Commission of India gave its recommendations in that regard more than a decade ago, little has been done to implement them," it said.
The trial court had delivered its verdict on June 9, 2014.
The policemen in their appeal had alleged that Ranbir Singh had gone to Dehradun with two others for a dacoity and had snatched the service revolver of one of the accused cops.
The police had alleged that he was involved in an extortion racket.
All of them were on security duty on July 3, 2009, in view of the visit of then president Pratibha Patil.

CBI has submitted before the court that the victim had gone to Dehradun to take up a job on July 3, 2009 and the theory of the convicts "is a story".
While confirming the conviction of seven policemen, the bench observed that they were unable to prove that they fired in self defence.
"There was no evidence to show that the deceased while trying to run away into the forest fired upon accused-1 to accused-7," it said, adding that they failed to proved that the have fired in self defence.
"The medical and ballistic evidence accounted for all the rounds fired by seven convicts on the deceased. His suffering a homicidal death as a result thereof stands comprehensively proved. Both the medical and ballistic evidence prove that the encounter was not genuine but a fake one," it added.

The high court said that the circumstances "unerringly point to the culpability of the seven for abducting the deceased, unlawfully detaining him and then killing him by indiscriminate firing in a fake encounter.
It concluded, saying the actual plan to eliminate the man could be attributed only to the seven policeman and not the 11 others.
"The eleven policemen convicted were constables who had to accompany their superiors and obey the instructions issued to them. They were in no position to join the larger conspiracy, entering into an agreement to commit a crime," it said.