E-Paper
Ex-SP gets 10-year RI for abduction, disappearance
Victim’s wife claimed that her husband, who was picked by cops in 1992, was killed in custody and his body was cremated as unclaimed
Mohali :More than three decades after the Punjab Police abducted a resident of Jhabal in Amritsar district, the court of special judge, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Mohali, Manjot Kaur convicted and sentenced a retired superintendent of police (SP) to 10-year rigorous imprisonment. The court also imposed a fine of ₹2 lakh on the former cop.
The accused, Amarjit Singh, a resident of Moga and then station house officer of Jhabal, was convicted under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 364 (kidnapping for murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
On October 4,1992, Rajwant Kaur, wife of the victim Balwinder Singh, and her mother-in-law Gurbachan Kaur were picked by a police party headed by DSP Ashok Kumar and SHO Amarjit Singh. Police later detained Balwinder too and the trio was kept in the Jhabal police station, according to a CBI chargesheet filed in 1999. Gurbachan was released after four days and Rajwant after eight days.
However, Balwinder never returned home. When enquired by the family after 15 days of his detention, police claimed that Balwinder was shifted to Ferozepur, but the family could never see him again, the chargesheet said.
Rajwant accused the cops of killing her husband and cremating his body as a “laawaris” (unclaimed) dead body.
On November 15, 1995, the Supreme Court directed the CBI to investigate allegations of extra-judicial killings and disposal of dead bodies as unclaimed by the Punjab Police. The CBI conducted preliminary inquiry in three districts of Punjab and submitted its report to the top court.
Following the apex court’s December 12, 1996, order, the CBI probed the said case and booked the accused on February 27, 1997, following the statement of Balwinder’s wife.
The CBI filed a chargesheet against the accused in 1999 and charges were framed in 2000. However, the trial was stayed for 10 years from 2002 to 2022 as the accused had filed multiple petitions in the Punjab and Haryana high court.
Counsels for the victim Jagjit Singh Bajwa and Pushpinder Natt said during the stay period, nine witnesses died and only 15 witnesses could be examined.
The complainant’s counsel, senior advocate Sarabjit Singh Verka, said while the accused retired from service, the victim’s wife suffered a lot in the last 32 years and was not even able to see his body.
While the defence counsel denied any role of the accused as the body was never recovered from him, public prosecutor Anmol Narang contended that it was not a simple case of abduction and illegal confinement but a grave case in which cops were duty bound to preserve life and liberty of a citizen.
The other accused, Ashok Kumar, of Hoshiarpur, who was then posted as DSP, died during the trial.
The court also referred the case to the District Legal Service Authority (DLSA) for compensation to the victim’s family.
