High Court convicts DSP, three other cops for murder of Sangrur resident

Nearly three decades after Gamdoor Singh, a resident of Sangrur, sustained injuries in police custody before breathing his last in a hospital, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has held four police officials, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police, guilty of his murder.

The Division Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma has also sentenced two of the convicts to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each on them on charges of murder and common intention under Section 302 and 34 of the IPC.

The Bench also directed the SHO concerned to produce two other convicts, Jaswant Singh and DSP Gursewak Singh, for being heard on the quantum of sentence. The officer has been asked to furnish an explanation after appearing before the Bench in case of his failure to produce the duo. The order came even as the star prosecution witness in the case was declared hostile during the trial proceedings.

The matter was placed before the Bench after the fast track court of an Additional Sessions Judge in Sangrur in May 2003 acquitted accused police officials Harbhajan Singh, Kirpal Singh and Jaswant Singh for murder and common intention while sentencing them to rigorous imprisonment for up to three years for lesser offences. The matter was placed before the Bench after both the state and accused moved the high court against the verdict.

The Bench reversed the earlier acquittal based on medical evidence. The court emphasised that the autopsy and subsequent medical reports clearly established that the deceased’’s pre-existing cardiac and lung conditions were exacerbated by the injuries he sustained, leading to systemic disturbances that caused his death. Despite the trial court’s reliance on an earlier medical opinion suggesting a natural death due to respiratory failure, the high court found the reasoning to be flawed.