By IANS
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Wednesday commuted the death sentence of retired assistant commissioner of police (ACP) R.P. Tyagi to eight years’ rigorous imprisonment and acquitted another Delhi Police personnel in a 21-year-old case of custodial death.
A division bench of Justices Mukul Mudgal and P.K. Bhasin, commuting Tyagi’s death sentence, slapped on him eight years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.200,000 for the custodial death of an accused, who was taken into police custody but without a warrant.
Tyagi was last year sentenced to death by the sessions court in Karkardooma for the death of Mahinder Kumar, who died in the Vivek Vihar police station in 1987.
The high court also acquitted retired ACP K.P. Singh, who was earlier sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, and stated that the FIR was delayed at the behest of senior police officers and Singh had not done it intentionally.
Besides, it reduced the three-year jail term of Tej Singh to six months and a fine of Rs.5,000.
The court pulled up Delhi Police for the callous attitude in treating the criminals “as animals”, thereby increasing the number of custodial deaths every year.
“The accused, being the station house officer, deserves the most severe punishment because when the upholder of law turns into a law breaker, the most stringent punishment should be awarded. Accordingly, we sentence Tyagi to undergo eight years of rigorous imprisonment,” said the bench in its 173-page order.
“The death in police custody is perhaps the worst kind of crime in a civilized society governed by the law. The men in uniform should not consider themselves to be above the law and sometimes even to become law unto themselves,” the bench said.
“Nothing is so dehumanising as the conduct of the police officers in inflicting torture of any kind on a person in their custody. The courts are also required to adopt a more deterrent stance, particularly in cases involving custodial torture and death,” the judgment stated.
The court also directed the state to pay a compensation of Rs.200,000 to the mother of Mohinder Kumar.
“We are constrained to award compensation against the state in view of the role played by the police officers in delaying the proceedings and attempting to scuttle the course of justice as well as vicarious liability for the action of its offenders,” ruled the bench.
The lower court had Dec 15, 2006 pronounced death sentence to Tyagi and awarded rigorous imprisonment to K.P. Singh and Tej Singh for killing Mahinder Kumar in custody in 1987 without a warrant.
Kumar and his friend Raj Kumar were detained at Vivek Vihar police station in the capital for causing minor injuries to a couple during a fight.
The police officers were accused of beating Kumar up and injuring the two in the lock-up. The victims were later taken to the Loknayak Jayaprakash Narain Hospital from where Raj Kumar fled. Mahinder Kumar died of his wounds at the hospital.
The police failed to register a complaint and book the three officers after the incident despite repeated pleas from the victim’s family. Finally, the matter was taken to the lower court when Mohinder Kumar’s family approached the crime branch.
The high court expressed its displeasure that despite the law commission’s recommendations to amend the Indian Evidence Act nothing concrete has been done.
According to the recommendations, any bodily injuries caused to a person in police custody, if there is evidence, then the court may presume that the injury was caused by the police officer having the custody of that person during that period, unless the police officer proves to the contrary.
“However, these recommendations have not been effectuated up to now and the dehumanising crime of custodial torture has continued. Therefore, this issue deserves due legislative and executive attention,” the bench said.