It is not often that policemen involved in shooting people dead and seeking to cover up the incident as an armed encounter are convicted for murder . The verdict of the Sessions Court in Mathura sentencing 11 police personnel, including a DSP, to life for murdering Raja Man Singh, the head of the princely state of Bharatpur in Rajasthan, and two of his associates, in 1985, is one such rare instance. While welcoming this rare blow for accountability and justice, it is inevitable that one must lament the tardiness of the criminal justice system. Even accounting for the usual or expected delay in prosecuting police personnel, the 35 years that it took for the case to complete the trial stage is further evidence that justice moves in slow motion in this country. There are several long-delayed trials that spanned generations. The trial of the men who assassinated Railway Minister L.N. Mishra in January 1975 ended in conviction in 2014, a good 39 years later. The Hashimpura case, in which nearly 40 Muslims were massacred in 1987, ended with an en masse acquittal in 2015, but the Delhi High Court restored some faith in the judicial process by slapping lifelong prison terms on 16 men three years later. While convictions in heinous crimes ought to be welcomed regardless of the long delay, those administering criminal law will have to explain how far finding old and infirm people guilty after letting them enjoy decades of impunity really serves the cause of justice. Fortunately, the delay did not affect the outcome in this case, but it does not mean there is no truth in the old axiom that delay amounts to denial of justice.
The election-time murder of Raja Man Singh at Deeg on February 21, 1985, was initially sought to be passed off as an ‘encounter’. The previous day, the titular head, a seven-time independent legislator, had apparently felt insulted on hearing that his family flag had been damaged by Congress supporters. In a fit of rage, he drove his jeep into the stage put up for then Congress Chief Minister Shiv Charan Mathur’s rally, and went on to damage a helicopter used by the Chief Minister. The next day, as the Raja was on his way to surrender, his jeep was surrounded by a party led by the DSP and others. Eye-witnesses said they fired at the vehicle’s occupants, killing Man Singh and his two elderly associates. Later, top police officials admitted the former ruler was not armed. The then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, asked Chief Minister Mathur to step down. The investigation was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation. Later, the Supreme Court shifted the trial to Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. It may not be known if Congress leaders conspired with the police, but the incident remains a blot on the party’s record in the 1980s.
