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High court acquits five in Rampur CRPF camp attack case
High court sets aside trial court order that awarded capital punishment to four persons and life imprisonment to another
PRAYAGRAJ The Allahabad high court on Wednesday set aside a trial court order that awarded capital punishment to four persons – Mohd Sharif, Sabauddin, Imran Shahzad and Mohd Farooq – and life imprisonment to another, Jang Bahadur, in connection with the terrorist attack on a CRPF camp at Rampur district on the night of December 31, 2007, in which eight CRPF jawans died and five sustained injuries.
A bench comprising Justices Sidharth Verma and Ram Manohar Narain Mishra acquitted Mohd Sharif, Sabauddin, Imran Shahjad, Mohd Farooq and Jang Bahadur Khan on murder and other serious charges, saying the prosecution “miserably failed to prove the case against the accused for the principal offence beyond reasonable doubt.”
Allowing the capital appeal, the court observed: “The defect in investigation went to the root of the case and ultimately culminated in the acquittal of the accused persons. We are deeply concerned with the magnitude and enormity of the offence and at the same time we are constrained to observe that the prosecution miserably failed to prove the case against the accused for the principal offence beyond reasonable doubt which is a golden rule that runs through the web of criminal jurisprudence. The state would be at liberty to deal with appropriately the lapses in investigation and proceed against the guilty police officers under law.”
An FIR was lodged in this connection by sub-inspector Om Prakash Sharma at Civil Lines police station, Rampur district, on January 1, 2008.
The capital appeal and reference was filed against the judgment and order passed in November 2019 by the additional district and sessions judge, Rampur, in session trial no- 208 of 2008 (State vs. Mohd Sharif @ Suhail and Ors.).
Allowing the capital appeal filed by the appellants– Sharif and others and reference, the division bench comprising of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra, however, found them guilty under section 25 (1-A) of the Arms Act on the basis of recovery of AK-47 rifle from some of the accused. Therefore, the court punished the appellants for 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.
Besides, the court imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh on each of the appellants – Mohd Sharif, Sabauddin, Imran Shahzad, Mohd Farooq and Jang Bahadur – for the offence committed by them under the Arms Act. “The period of imprisonment undergone by the appellants will be adjusted towards the above sentence awarded to the appellants,” the court added. Inputs from PTI
