Lucknow: Allahabad High Court on Thursday convicted 43 Uttar Pradesh police officials in the 1991 Pilibhit encounter case wherein 10 Sikhs were killed in a fake encounter. The court sentenced all accused to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000.
The bench comprising Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Saroj Yadav pronounced the verdict on Thursday and termed the police action an "abuse of power". "It is not the duty of the police officers to kill the accused merely because he/she is a dreaded criminal. Undoubtedly, the police have to arrest the accused and put them up for a trial," the bench remarked in the judgement."
"In the present case, there was no ill will between the appellants -- police personnel and the deceased persons. The appellants were public servants and their object was the advancement of public justice."
"No doubt, the appellants exceeded the powers given to them by law, and they caused the death of the deceased by doing an act which they, in good faith, believed to be lawful and necessary for the due discharge of their duty. In such circumstances, the offence that was committed by the appellants was culpable homicide not amounting to murder," the bench said.
"The case of the appellants is covered under Exception 3 to section 303 of IPC which provides that culpable homicide is not murdered if the offender, being a public servant, or aiding a public servant acting for the advancement of public justice, exceeds the powers given to him by law, and causes death by doing an act which he, in good faith, thinks to be lawful and necessary for the due discharge of his duty as a public servant without ill will towards the person whose death he has caused," it said.
On July 12, 1991, the convicted policemen stopped a luxury bus carrying Sikh pilgrims and forced 10 passengers to get off. A charge sheet filed in the case said the passengers were divided into groups, taken to different areas in a jungle and killed in "cold blood".
The policemen claimed the next day that 10 Khalistani terrorists had been killed. They claimed that some of the Sikhs in the bus were facing criminal cases and were armed. The trial court on April 4, 2016, found 47 policemen guilty of killing the Sikh men in fake encounters and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The policemen filed appeals against their conviction. During the pendency of appeals, four of them died. (With agency inputs)
