Acquitted man files appeal seeking damages

Chandigarh, December 23

After his application seeking damages was dismissed by a lower court last month, Mohali resident Navjot Singh, who was acquitted of the charges in the Beant Singh assassination case in 2007, moved an appeal challenging the orders of a lower court today.

A suit seeking recovery for Rs.43,60,245 or of any other amount by way of damages with interest at the rate of 18 per cent per annum and costs for the mental harassment, torture and malicious prosecution he faced was dismissed by the lower court on November 27. The appeal will come up for hearing tomorrow.Advocate AS Chahal said they had appealed that the plaintiff must get a relief. “His entire life had been spoiled. He remained in jail for 12 years for a crime he did not commit. He lost his job, his family suffered and so did his married life,” he said.

Navjot had alleged that a false case was initiated against him by the CBI, implicating him in Beant Singh’s assassination. Navjot Singh in his petition alleged that he was tortured when he did not agree to become an approver in the case. The court of Civil Judge Junior Division that dismissed his earlier complaint seeking damages held that “The prosecution was indeed wrong since the plaintiff was confined to custody for a long period which led to loss of his valuable years but this wrong was not malicious”, — TNS