Land Mark- Lesson for fake encounter specialists

Cops Get Life Imprisonment in EtawahHaidar Naqvi, Hindustan TimesKanpur, September 11, 2007First Published: 21:34 IST(11/9/2007)Last Updated: 21:49 IST(11/9/2007)In a landmark decision, an Etawah court convicted 15 policemen andsentenced them rigorous life imprisonment for killing a physicallychallenged youth in a fake encounter way back in 1992.The policemen include three sub-inspectors, one of them retired, threeconstables of civil police and nine jawans of Provincial ArmedConstabulary (PAC). Special Judge (essential commodities act) RCSharma has slapped a fine of 5000 each on personnel from civil policeand 1000 each on PAC jawans.After the verdict was pronounced, the relatives of policemen wentberserk and assaulted relatives of victims thanking the Almightyjoyously, on court campus. One person Ashok Sharma was grievouslyinjured in the attack and the police have taken several persons intocustody.Those convicted by the court are Girwar Giri, sub-inspectors SaligramYadav, Jai Narayan Singh, constables Brijesh Kumar Yadav, Satosh Kumarand constable-driver Brij Mohan and 10 PAC jawans. One of the PACjawan died in course of trial and sub-inspector Saligram Yadav retiredfrom the police force and now is 67 years of age.They had gunned down 22-year-old Raj Narayan Tewari on January 28,1992 at outskirts of Dadra, a village nestled on banks of Chambalriver. Tewari's brother Ram Kumar Pandit was a dacoit and the MadhyaPradesh government had announced a cash reward of 50,000 on his head.The police team was headed by then station officer Chakar Nagar,Giriwar Giri who claimed to have had acted on specific information.But the police story boomranged when two eye witnesses came forth andspilled the beans. Even in the court they stood by their account and
"The witness Vijay Narayan and Seeta Ram had seen the policemen shooting Raj Narayan dead and later dumping his body in the Chambalr iver," said public prosecutor Vijay Narayan Singh Sengar. "The body was never found and the testimonies of two witness played the pivotal role in the decision. The findings of CD-CID inquiry were equally significant," Sengar told HT. The CB-CID inquiry was ordered a year after and the investigating officer Santosh Kumar Awasthi concluded the encounter as fake and recommended registration of murder and concealment of victim's body under section 302 and 201. During the trial, the police did not produce the general diary that contains day-to-day details about policemen's deed. And this was presumed as an act of concealment of evidence by the \u003cbr">court.