Two former Punjab cops convicted in 1993 fake encounter case

The two former police officials, Shamsher Singh and Jagtar Singh were convicted by the court of Special CBI Judge Harinder Singh Sidhu on Thursday in the 1993 fake encounter case of Tarn Taran.

Mohali (Punjab):A special court of the CBI in Mohali convicted two former Punjab police officials in the 1993 fake encounter case of Tarn Taran in Punjab. The two former police officials, Shamsher Singh and Jagtar Singh were convicted by the court of Special CBI Judge Harinder Singh Sidhu on Thursday. The court will pronounce the quantum of the sentence on Monday.

The conviction came in the 30-year-old police encounter case of Tarn Taran in which Harbans Singh, a resident of Uboke in Punjab, along with one unknown person was shown as killed during police firing. It was held by the trial court that this encounter was fake and convicted accused Shamsher Singh and Jagtar Singh for offenses punishable under Section 120-B read with 302, 218 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Notably, on 15th April 1993, the police of Sadar Tarn Taran claimed that three militants attacked the police party at 4:30 am when they were taking Harbans Singh, who was in their custody for recovery of arms and ammunition as per his disclosure statement. During cross-firing, Harbans Singh and one unidentified militant were killed, they claimed.

A case was registered against the unidentified militants under sections 302, 307/34 IPC read with 25/54/59 of the Arms Act and 5 of the TADA Act at PS Sadar, Tarn Taran.

In this case, the CBI conducted a preliminary inquiry based on the complaint of Harbans Singh's brother Paramjit Singh and found the story of the encounter suspicious. On the basis of the inquiry, the central agency on January 25, 1999, registered a case against the police officials under Section 34, 364, 302 of the IPC.

On January 8, 2002, the CBI filed a charge sheet against four police officials Puran Singh, SI Shamsher Singh, ASI Jagir Singh, and ASI Jagtar Singh, all then posted at PS Sadar Tarn Taran, for the offense punishable under Section 120-B read with 302 and 218 of the IPC.

On December 13, 2002, charges were framed against them by the CBI Court but the trial remained stayed from 2006 to 2022 on orders of higher courts during which accused Puran Singh and Jagir Singh died. In this case, 17 witnesses recorded their statements before the trial court and finally, after about 30 years, the case reached its logical end.