[Reader-list] 3 policemen get life term for fake encounter killings

[Subhash]

Will this trend ever end, despite the fact that each fake encounter
finally gets exposed...?
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Three policemen get life term for fake encounter killings

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday sentenced three Delhi police
personnel to life imprisonment for murdering two men in a fake
encounter after abducting them from Uttar Pradesh in 2006 saying that
their act was a “stark illustration of protectors turning predators”

“This case is a stark illustration of alarming increase of the
criminal behaviour in the police force where the protectors are
predators,” Additional Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma said,
pronouncing the order on sentence.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs. 1.30 lakh each on convicts Ashok
Kumar and Surajpal and Rs. 1.50 lakh on Sudesh Rana, besides the
prison term.

It had on July 12 held them guilty of murder, abduction and criminal
conspiracy for killing Zulfikar, 28, and Nazakat, 26.

The court refused to show leniency to the convicts saying they had
abused their position being the policemen but said the act did not
fall in the rarest of rare category to earn them death penalty.

“The convicts were in active police service. They were the protectors
of the law and supposed to uphold the spirit of law. They abused their
power in getting the deceased abducted and got them eliminated.”

“They not only tarnished the image of the organisation but also eroded
the credibility of the police force in general,” the court said.

All the accused policemen were posted at Operation Cell of the North
District here.

They abducted Zulfikar and Nazakat from Ghaziabad court and killed
them at a place here under Timarpur police station on July 31, 2006.

According to the prosecution, constable Ashok Kumar was harbouring a
grudge against the duo as they were accused of killing his younger
brother Digamber in 2004.

Kumar had hatched a conspiracy with all the other accused, including
the then Assistant Sub-Inspector Pramod Kumar Tyagi who could not be
arrested and was declared a proclaimed offender, and eliminated the
victims.

“The genesis of the case lies in the fact that convict Ashok wanted to
take revenge of the death of his brother and the culpability of the
other convicts lies in the fact that they become a willing party in
the decision of convict Ashok to eliminate the deceased,” the court
said. Out of the total fine, the court directed that a sum of Rs. 1.50
lakh each would paid to the family of the victims. - PTI

http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/16/stories/2010071661240400.htm