A Delhi court on Wednesday sentenced five Uttar Pradesh police personnel to 10-year rigorous imprisonment each in a case of torturing a man to death in their custody at Noida’s Sector 20 police station in 2006.
Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Kumar Malhotra awarded the jail term to Sub-Inspectors Hindveer Singh and Mahesh Mishra and Constables Pradeep Kumar, Pushpender Kumar and Haripal Singh for abducting the victim, Sonu, making incorrect entries in the general diary to mislead evidence and torturing him which lead to his death in 2006.
Kunwar Pal, a property dealer and an accused in the case, was awarded three years’ imprisonment by the court on kidnapping charge. The court also asked the accused persons to pay cumulatively ₹17 lakh compensation to the father of the deceased. The court had on March 18 held the accused persons guilty.
After the victim’s death, his father had filed a complaint and a case was registered. The case was earlier tried by a Gautam Budh Nagar court. The Supreme Court later transferred it to the Delhi court stating that “free and fair trial of the case will not be possible within the State [UP], more so because the accused are members of the police force.”
Holding the accused guilty of kidnapping and beating the victim to death with the knowledge that it would lead to his death, the judge said, “It has been duly proved beyond reasonable doubt that the five accused policemen... in connivance with Kunwar Pal and in furtherance of their common intention abducted Sonu from his village Hazrat Pur and maliciously confined him till he was declared dead knowing that by confining him illegally they were acting contrary to law as they were apprehending his involvement in a robbery case without any evidence or reasonable suspicion against him.”
“Not only this, but they also tortured Sonu while he was in their custody knowing that by such beatings/torture they are likely to cause death of Sonu,” the Judge added.
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