Cops in civvies firing on car can’t be considered official duty: SC

The conduct of police personnel surrounding a civilian vehicle in plain clothes and firing on its occupant cannot be considered under duties of public order or effecting lawful arrest, the Supreme Court has said, dismissing a plea of nine Punjab cops to quash murder charges against them in an alleged fake encounter case.

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A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta also restored the destruction of evidence charge levelled on Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Parampal Singh for directing the removal of the number plate of the car after the firing incident in 2015 in which a driver was killed.

The Bench in its April 29 order uploaded recently dismissed the appeals of nine cops challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s order of May 20, 2019, where it refused to quash the case against them.

The Bench rejected the submission of eight cops that cognisance of complaint against them could not be taken as it was barred under Section 197 of CrPC under which prior permission was needed to prosecute public servants. “Equally untenable is the submission that cognisance was barred for want of sanction under Section 197 of the CrPC. The petitioners stand accused of surrounding a civilian vehicle in plain clothes and jointly firing on its occupant,” it said.

“Such conduct, by its very nature, bears no reasonable nexus to the duties of maintaining public order or effecting lawful arrest,” it said.

The top court said the criminal complaint alleges, in clear and specific terms, that the nine policemen surrounded a car, alighted with firearms, and fired in concert, fatally injuring the occupant. It added that the narrative was supported, at least prima facie, by two eyewitness depositions. “In addition, the Special Investigation Team constituted at the behest of senior police administrators, found the self-defence version subsequently projected in FIR…to be false and recommended prosecution of eight of the petitioners for culpable homicide,” it said