For five years, 57-year-old Ravinder Pal Singh was referred to as ‘complainant’ in the 2009 fake encounter of his son Ranbir Singh in Dehradun by 18 Uttarakhand police personnel.
He stood the test of time and tribulations of a criminal trial with courage and determination, but as the Special CBI court convicted the 18 cops, 17 of them for kidnapping and murdering his 22-year-old son, an MBA, Mr. Singh broke down. All he could say was that the reason for his son’s murder still remains a mystery.
“My son’s was the 27th and the last encounter in Dehradun in seven years (since Uttarakhand was declared a separate State in 2006),” said Mr. Singh, an ex-Army personnel.
“Why was his the last encounter? After his encounter, hue and cry was raised and then there were no more encounters. Why? Because now the police can’t risk faking encounters. This is the scene across India. The police are killing innocent people in fake encounters,” he said.
“ Hakikat aaj tak pata nahi chali . (The reality is still not known). Why did they kill my son? He was not a criminal. He had just got done with his MBA exam and the result was awaited. He took my permission to go to Dehradun for a job. They killed him for their promotion. Maximum encounters are fake. The police does it all the time for their vested interests,” said Mr. Singh, who did rounds of politicians and courts to get a CBI probe in the matter and then to get the trial shifted to Delhi.
With teary-eyes, he shook hands with his family members and advocates after the judgment was delivered and wants nothing less than death for the guilty.
“ Main to jeet ke bhi hara hua hoon. Beta to wapas nahi aayega ” (Even in this victory, I have lost. My son is not going to come back), he said.
On getting the trial shifted to Delhi from Dehradun, Mr. Singh said: “The day the trial was shifted to Delhi, I was satisfied. I never attended the trial in Uttarakhand. The agencies there conducted the probe and the trial at their own whims and fancies. The accused police personnel got bail in such a heinous case and they also managed to join the duty. They had a monopoly there.”
Mr. Singh said the accused tried to influence witnesses. He also thanked the media for taking the case to its conclusion.
