A Delhi Court on Monday awarded death penalty to convict Ariz Khan alias Junaid in the matter relating to the Batla House encounter of 2008 where police inspector Mohan Chand Sharma and two alleged terrorists were killed during the showdown between the two parties.
In awarding the death sentence, the Court observed that it is a fit case falling in the “rarest of the rare” category deserving the maximum sentence under the law.
Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav said Ariz be hanged by neck till death.
The court also imposed total fine of Rs 11 lakh on Ariz Khan. It said Rs 10 lakh should be immediately released to the family members of Mohan Chand.
Mohan Chand Sharma of the special cell was killed during the Batla House encounter between the police and alleged terrorists in south Delhi’s Jamia Nagar following serial bomb blasts in the national capital in which 39 people died and 159 were injured.
Mr Sharma had led a seven-member team to the Batla House on September 19, 2008 on a tip-off that suspected terrorists, involved in the serial blasts in the capital, were there. He had died of the bullet injuries sustained during the gun battle. He was also accorded the highest gallantry award, the Ashok Chakra.
“I feel the fine of Rs 10 lakh is insufficient. Hence, I am referring the matter to Delhi Legal Services Authority for award of additional compensation,” the judge said.
Additional Public Prosecutor AT Ansari told the court that this was a gruesome murder of a law enforcement officer and defender of justice while discharging his lawful public duty, and therefore, a serious exercise must be undertaken for determining the quantum of sentence.
“If police officers are allowed to be murdered by the designer of murder and law does not express its strongest condemnation by way of extreme penalties, then justice to those who are called up to defend justice would fail. This facet of social justice in certain circumstances demands death penalty,” Ansari told the court.
Ansari told the court that the accused has been convicted of killing an on-duty police officer, and attempting to murder another police personnel, Head Constable Balwant, who was also discharging his duties.
“This peculiar fact of the case undoubtedly brings the case in the category of the rarest of the rare and calls for only the death penalty, as it shook the conscience of the society,” Ansari told the court.
Khan’s counsel had opposed the death penalty and said the incident was not premeditated. The court had said on March 8 that it was “duly proved that Ariz Khan and his associates caused murder of police official and fired gunshot on the police official”.
Ariz Khan had fled from the spot and was declared proclaimed offender. He was arrested on February 14, 2018, and faced the trial.
