By IANS,
New Delhi : Twenty-three years after a custodial death, a Delhi Police sub inspector (SI) was awarded 10 years of rigorous imprisonment by the Delhi High Court Friday for using third degree methods to extract a confession of a man involved in a theft case.
A division bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Ajit Bharihoke awarded 10 years of rigorous imprisonment to SI Ranbir Singh for beating Dayal Singh, a watchman, during custodial interrogation in 1986. Due to beatings by the police, Dayal Singh subsequently died.
Ranbir was acquitted by a trial court in 1995.
“We cannot lose sight of the fact that Ranbir was a police officer and it was his duty to ensure physical well-being of the deceased while he was in custody. Yet he violated the law and resulted to illegal means of third degree in his endeavor to extract a confession which, in our considered view, is a serious offence and needs to be tackled with a firm hand,” said the bench in its order.
The court also slapped a fine of Rs. 55,000 on the SI from which Rs. 50,000 will be given to the closest relative of the deceased.
Ranbir in his defence contended before the court that he was now 63 years old and was suffering from Parkinson’s disease and not maintaining good health, but the court said: “It is the duty of the police officer to protect the deceased while he was in custody.”
Ranbir also submitted that the deceased died after he hit his head against a iron road but the court ruled: “The beating continued through day and night and rollers were rolled on his thighs. The post mortem clearly states that he was in coma as a result of head injury. So we are clearly of the view that the trial court judgment giving the benefit of doubt to Ranbir cannot be sustained.”
The case dates back to 1986 when Dayal Singh was picked up by SI Ranbir Singh from his house in the wee hours on Sep 19 from Govindpuri in south Delhi for alleged theft of a VCR, some cassettes and sarees from a Friends Colony house. Dayal Singh died from sustained police assault the next day.