3 cops get death for UP fake encounter in 1982
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The court also criticized the CBI for its shoddy investigation as it found, from the evidence submitted, the involvement of other senior police officers in the massacre. "The evidence on record indicated conspiracy at a high level but the CBI kept its eyes closed," said the court, pronouncing the judgment.
In all, 19 policemen were chargesheeted, 10 of whom died during trial and seven retired from service. Only one of the convicts remains in service. Vibha Singh, the wife of DSP K P Singh who was the target of the encounter, also died during trial.
The fake encounter took place on the night of March 12, 1982, at Madhavpur village in Gonda. Acting on information about dacoits in the village, a police party led by K P Singh set out for Madhavpur. However, the court found that station house officer (SHO) R B Saroj, against whom DSP Singh was pursuing an inquiry, had set a trap to kill his officer with the help of other cops.
In the massacre that followed, 12 innocent villagers were butchered and later declared dacoits by Saroj and his accomplices. They later submitted a report saying the DSP was killed by dacoits and that the policemen killed the dacoits in an encounter and produced the bodies of villagers as evidence.
However, Vibha Singh and then state president of People's Union for Civil Liberties Chitranjan Singh, moved the Supreme Court alleging foul play in the DSP's death. The SC directed a CBI probe and an FIR was registered in February 1984. The CBI submitted chargesheets against the 19 policemen in February 1989, accusing them of killing the DSP and villagers in a fake encounter.
"All evidence shows... RB Saroj killed the DSP, who was then a 25-year-old. No doubt he (Saroj) had the support of those persons whom the CBI did not chargesheet for reasons known to it," the court observed. It noted that Vibha Singh had voiced suspicion about the then Gonda SP — who went on to become UP DGP — in the murder. Vibha had told the court that the Gonda SP had a strained relationship with his wife because she had taken a shine to the DSP. "The statement indicates... a deep conspiracy behind the encounter," the court said.
Then Kaudia SHO R B Saroj, now 66, constables Ram Nayak Pandey, 59, and Ram Karan Singh, 68, were given death sentence by special CBI judge Rajendra Singh.
"The manner of the killing of DSP KP Singh and 12 villagers and thereafter creating false encounter memo and fake recovery memos makes it rarest of rare case," said the CBI judge. He awarded life imprisonment to five others — Ramakant Dixit (then PAC commandant, now 71); then sub-inspectors Naseem Ahmad, 62; Mangla Prasad Singh, 66; Pervez Hussain, 66; and Rajendra Prasad Singh, 63. The court said they had indulged in criminal conspiracy and participated in the bloodbath. The court acquitted a cop, Prem Singh, for want of evidence. Only Ram Nayak Pandey remains in service as a sub-inspector in Jaunpur.
Turning down the plea for modest punishment for the accused by senior counsel Mridul Rakesh, the court said, "The accused are now old or may be infirm or sick but what was the crime of the victims who were massacred... It's the duty of a policeman to refuse to carry out illegal orders given by any superior for fake encounter," the court said. "Fake encounters are nothing but cold-blooded brutal murder by persons supposed to uphold the law. Moderate punishment can be considered for crimes committed by ordinary people but if it is committed by policemen, severest punishment should be awarded."
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