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Innocent Five who were jailed
get Rs 20 lakh each
WSN Network
CHANDIGARH: The
man who was "murdered" has now been sent to jail. The "murderers"
have been released. The state of Punjab will pay Rs One Crore to the
"murderers".
How's that for a
teaser? Well, it is true.
In a shameless
expose of the Punjab Police's ways of functioning and the utter
apathy and helplessness of the legal system that cannot put a stop
to the most blatant injustice committed by the powerful in collusion
with the police, five men were wrongly convicted and sentenced to
long jail terms for murdering a man who is very much alive even 13
years later.
Even when the
facts of the matter came to light, it took weeks before the court
was able to get the man, Jagseer Singh, to visit and testify himself
about his identity.
So the five not
only went to jail for life terms for a murder that they did not
commit, but no one had committed that murder.
It took the five
men a hell of a legal battle and much noise in the media before they
could walk free last week.
The Punjab and
Haryana High Court directed the state government to pay a
compensation of Rs 20 lakh each.
The court
pointed out, "The State is duty bound to do a fair and truthful
investigation. It is the solemn and sovereign function of the State
to prosecute criminals but not the innocent."
But Nachhatra
Singh, Sira, Amarjit Singh, Nikka Singh and Surjit Singh lost the
best years of their lives behind bars and suffered 13 years of
irreparable psychological and physical damage, which included five
years' rigorous imprisonment and loss of face.
The court
directed the SHO, Bhadaur, to register a fresh FIR on the statement
of Nachhatar Singh, one of the appellants. The Bench also directed
the trial court to institute proceedings under Section 340 of the
CrPC against a number of people and policemen connected to the
investigation and clear perjury.
Investigating
officers were part and parcel in falsely giving evidence before the
trial court and even the bench held that they were "hand in glove
with the complainant party".
30
September 2009
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