New Delhi, May 21
The Supreme Court has indicted the Punjab police for diluting the FIR in an attempted rape and murder of a woman 10 years ago to save five policemen in the case. However, the court acquitted two of them of murder charges for lack of evidence.
A bench comprising justices S. B. Sinha and Markandey Katju, however, found sufficient evidence against the two policemen, Surjit Singh and Daljit Singh, to uphold their conviction for the offences of unlawful assembly, trespassing into the house of the victim with arms with a common object to commit the alleged crime of rape.
The High Court had confirmed the conviction of all five policemen for murder. The other three are Surjit Singh Bagga, Harjinder Singh and Lakhwinder Singh. But, no charge of rape or attempted rape was mentioned in the FIR. Only Surjit Singh and Daljit Singh had preferred appeal in the apex court.
According to the prosecution, an attempt of rape was made on the woman before her murder at her home in a village in Gurdaspur district on February 21, 1997, by the accused policemen. They killed her when her two teenager sons identified them.
Coming down heavily on investigating officer sub-inspector Swaran Singh for not naming any of the five policemen in the FIR. They were made accused only after a complaint was filed in the court of judicial magistrate, Gurdaspur, by victim’s elder son Mohan Singh.
While making it clear that its
judgement was only confined to Surjit Singh and Daljit Singh who filed the appeal, the apex court said the verdict has nothing to do with the remaining three cops.
The Gurdaspur Sessions Judge had convicted all five policemen for the murder of the woman apart from finding them guilty of unlawful assembly, trespassing her house armed with deadly weapon with a common object of committing the intended offence, which the High Court had confirmed.
But, the Supreme Court said it was unfortunate that “none of the accused were named in the FIR and the version given therein indicates that nobody saw the assailants… all accused were policemen, while the family of the deceased was that of poor labourers.”
While agreeing with the High Court’s findings that investigation officer Swaran Singh “appears to have deliberately concocted a false FIR not naming the accused since he belonged to the same department… because he wanted to help the accused,” the apex court took exception to his getting the FIR singed by victim’s minor son Rattan Singh, who was not a major then.
