1982 Gonda Encounter

The 1982 Gonda Encounter is an ongoing criminal case involving the murder of 13 people including the Deputy Superintendent of police in Gonda district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.^[1] On 5th March, 2013 three police personnel were given capital punishment and five others were given life-time imprisonment by the special CBI court in Lucknow.^[2][3][4] The case has been described as the "Rarest of rare cases" and also for the slow process of the Indian judicial system since the verdict was announced after 31 years.^[5][6]

Background

The police in India, especially in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Assam and West Bengal have gained notoriety in alleged fake encounters over the last few years.^[7] Out of the total number of 555 alleged extra judicial killings from 2009-13 by the police and other forces registered by the National Human Rights Commission, only 144 cases have been solved yet.^[8][9][10]Maximum 138 encounters have occurred in Uttar Pradesh between 1st April 2009 and 15th February, 2013, out of which 30 encounters have been taken place in 2009-10, 40 in 2010-11, 42 in 2011-12 and 26 in 2013.^[11] The police force, which is world’s largest, also faces considerable shortage of its staff.^[12]

Alleged Encounter and Killing

A alleged group clash had occurred on the night of 12th March, 1982 in Madhavpur village located within the Katrabazar police station area in Gonda district. DSP K P Singh, on getting the information about the criminals Ram Bhulawan and Arjun Pasi, went to the village with the police.^[13] KP Singh was later taken to the hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. 12 other people also died who were later declared dacoits by R B Saroj (who was head of police station) and his partners.^[14] The police later submitted a report saying the DSP was killed by dacoits in a bomb attack and the policemen killed the dacoits in an encounter. They also showed the bodies of 12 people as evidence.^[15]

Allegations and Investigation

The reason for the alleged killing is said to be the enmity between Deputy Superintendent of police, K P Singh, and his subordinates, whom he suspected of having close co-operation with the local criminals. K P Singh had ordered inquiry against the then sub-inspector R B Saroj. Yashpal Singh, then SP of Gonda, started the investigation. After the inquiry, he was removed.^[16] The police initially maintained that Singh was killed by criminals. The Superintendent of police Tirath Rajpal of Katra Bazar investigated the incident and gave the cops a clean chit, however Mr. KP Singh’s wife, Vibha Singh, state president of People's Union for Civil Liberties Chitranjan Singh, alleged that Singh’s subordinates had conspired to kill him. On her complaint, the local officers refused to take action.^[17][18] Vibha Singh then approached the High Court and a CBI investigation was ordered on Supreme Court’s intervention. The CBI registered an FIR on February 24, 1984, accusing the cops of killing the DSP and villagers in a fake encounter. Finally a charge sheet was filed against 19 policemen by the CBI on February 28, 1989 and 7th September, 2001.^[17][19]

Preliminary investigation had found encounter as doubtful^[20] as the CBI found the death of the DSP as mysterious and had found evidence that KP Singh was probing a number of inquires pending against RB Saroj related to allegations of corruption, bribery and human rights violations. The encounter though told by the police to have lasted for hours, but there were no signs of bullets on any house and no villager was injured. The statement of witnesses, villagers and doctors contradicted the statement by the police.^[21] Also the investigating agency found most of the firearms shown recovered from the villagers in alleged encounter were not in working condition.^[22][23]

Verdict

After 24 long years of investigation, the special CBI court convicted eight policemen on March 29, 2013. In the trial period of 19 policemen who were charge sheeted, 10 had died and seven had retired. On 5th April, 2013, the CBI court judge Rajendra Singh announced death penalty for three policemen and life imprisonment for the five remaining accused.^[24][18][25] The CBI's special public prosecutor Sanjai Kumar mentioned that the encounter took place on the night of 12th March, 1982, when the chief conspirator R B Saroj executed the plan to kill the then DSP K P Singh with other police men. The charge sheet says that R B Saroj, against whom investigations were going on by Mr. Singh, made a story of movement of criminals in the Madhavpur area and decided to take on the criminals when Singh and other cops joined him.^[17] The prosecutor also said that 12 villagers were killed. The accused later told that the dacoits killed the DSP whom they killed in firing.^[13][26] "All evidence shows... RB Saroj killed the DSP, who was then a 25-year-old. No doubt he (Saroj) had the support of those persons whom the CBI did not chargesheet for reasons known to it," the court observed. The court also said pointing the evidence of killing them in cold blood, "The motive...was to commit the murder of CO and 12 persons. The Forensic Science Laboratory report shows that the ammunitions recovered were not of corresponding arms and the post-mortem report of 12 persons showed that they were shot dead while in standing position at a very close range.^[27][28] The CBI judge also said, "The manner of the killing of DSP KP Singh and 12 villagers and thereafter creating false encounter memo and fake recovery memos makes it rarest of rare case," and turned down the appeal from the accused side to deliver a lighter punishment.^[15] The main accused RB Saroj who was posted as a sub-inspector in Gonda in 1982 claimed to have been implicated by the CBI in the case only because the investigators had wanted to give a clean chit to the senior officers.The court after the judgement took the guilty accused into custody and sent them to jail.^[22]

The following is the list of the accused:

Impact and Eye-Witnesses Account

The case and the outcome is seen as the very slow process of the Indian judicial system since it took 31 years after the murder and 27 years the charge sheet to deliver the first verdict. The CBI judge Rajendra Singh stated it as the “rarest of the rare cases. The case is also marked for holding total of eight policemen guilty.^[15] But the case is also noted for its slow judgement and the failure of the agency to solve the case and deliver the result in time. The court criticized the CBI for the pace of investigation. The court on pronouncing the verdict said, “The evidence on record indicated conspiracy at a high level but the CBI kept its eyes closed, ". The deceased DSP’s daughter Kinjal Singh, who is an IAS officer and district magistrate of Bahraich, broke down during the judgement and recalled her father as honest and her mother’s consistent fight against the accused. She and the relatives of the victims who were present in the court appreciated the court decision.^[31] Scores of eye-witnesses also told the media how they saw their dear ones were killed in front of them by the accused, but they could do nothing.^[22][15]

See also

Ishrat Jahan case

Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter

References

External links

• Central Bureau of Investigation
• National Human Rights Commission
• Ministry Of Home Affairs