A serving and a retired policemen were sentenced to life imprisonment by the district and sessions judge, Etah, on Wednesday for the custodial death of a man during panchayat elections in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Etah district in 2005. Two other accused policemen, deputed at Jainthra police station of Etah, died during the pendency of the case.
Etah district and sessions judge Rakesh Dhar Dubey passed the verdict in an open court sentencing the two—Mahaveer Singh (currently posted in Hathras) and Gajraj Singh (now retired)—for life.
He also imposed a penalty of ₹25,000 each on them after holding them guilty for charges under section 302/24 (murder with common intention by multiple accused) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The accused cops were also held guilty under IPC sections 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), 342 (wrongful confinement), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) with punishment imparted thereof.
The case was initially filed in the court of the chief judicial magistrate at Etah against four policemen namely Manish Yadav, Mahavir Singh, Midhai Lal and Gajraj Singh. The then police station in charge of Jainthra Manish Yadav and retired constable Midhai Lal died during the pendency of the case.
The matter relates to Etah’s Bahgo village where one Ativeer Singh lodged a complaint on August 28, 2005 alleging that during panchayat elections, the accused police station incharge Manish Yadav, Mahavir Singh, Midhai Lal and sub-inspector Gajraj Singh took along his brother Muhar Pal aka Munna to police station on August 26, 2005.
{{/usCountry}}The matter relates to Etah’s Bahgo village where one Ativeer Singh lodged a complaint on August 28, 2005 alleging that during panchayat elections, the accused police station incharge Manish Yadav, Mahavir Singh, Midhai Lal and sub-inspector Gajraj Singh took along his brother Muhar Pal aka Munna to police station on August 26, 2005.
{{/usCountry}}He alleged that Munna was beaten to death at the police station at the behest of some influential villagers who took his brother’s body in a private jeep. Later, a case was registered against these four cops beside the driver of jeep.
The defence in the case relied on fact that skeleton that was found was of a man of 15-18 years of age while the deceased was in his thirties. However, the court held on basis of various citation of ruling by upper courts that it is not necessary that the body of deceased needs to be traced to prove case of murder if evidence on record and circumstances available nail the accused.