New Delhi, November 8
The Supreme Court today acquitted two Punjab “militants” sentenced to life imprisonment in a TADA case for the alleged murder of a son of the then Ludhiana city DSP in 1986 when the state was witnessing the worst form of terrorism.
Allowing the appeal of Daljit Singh Bittoo and Gursharan Singh Gama, considered to be the activists of All-India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF), a Bench of Mr Justice B.N. Agrawal and Mr Justice A.K. Mathur said that prosecution evidence against the accused was not sufficient to convict them.
Daljit Singh and Gursharan were found guilty by a special TADA court in Ludhiana of gunning down Ashok Bedi, son of the then Ludhiana city DSP in a judgement passed in June 2004 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Accepting the arguments of senior advocate Sushil Kumar, appearing for the accused, that prosecution witnesses had not supported its case, the apex court ordered their immediate release from jail.
The duo were arrested by the police in 1994, eight years after the crime. Daljit Singh now claims himself to be the president of Shiromani Khalsa Dal.
Counsel of the accused claimed that they were falsely implicated by the police due to the DSP allegedly having enmity with them and consequently the charges under TADA were slapped on them.
The apex court also found a serious legal flaw in the prosecution case that the police had recorded their confession under the amended 1987 TADA, under which it was not admissible as evidence against the accused even as the offence was committed when the pre-amended Act of 1985 was in force.
The recent marriage of Daljit Singh, while on parole, had hit the headlines because a girl had chosen to marry a militant sentenced to life
imprisonment.
