Jodhpur : In the much talked about Anandpal Singh encounter case, a case will be filed against seven policemen including the then Superintendent of Police of Churu district Rahul Barhat under murder and other sections. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (CBI case), Jodhpur Metropolitan on Wednesday rejected the closure report filed by the CBI and passed an order to register a regular criminal case taking cognizance against the accused policemen. Gangster Anandpal Singh died in a police encounter in Malasar village of Churu district on June 24, 2017. In view of the protests, the Central Government handed over the investigation of the encounter to the CBI on the recommendation of the state government. After investigating the case, the CBI filed a closure report in the court on August 31, 2019.
The wife had presented a protest petition
Aggrieved by this, Anandpal’s wife Raj Kanwar had filed a protest petition. While passing the cognizance order on the protest petition, the presiding officer Yuvraj Singh took cognizance of the crime under Sections 147, 148, 302, 326, 325, 324 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code against the then SP of Churu Barhat, the then Circle Officer of Kuchaman City Vidya Prakash, Police Inspector Suryaveer Singh, Head Constable Kailash Chandra, Constable Sohan Singh, Dharampal and Dharamveer.
Citing the Supreme Court order
Citing an order of the Supreme Court, the court said that shooting and killing a person who had surrendered and was caught cannot be considered an act done under official duty. It is true that Anandpal Singh was a wanted criminal. Various criminal cases were registered against him and he had also fired at the police force before being caught at the time of the incident in the case at hand, but his killing after being caught cannot be considered justified. According to the order, there is no need for prosecution approval in the case at hand. The court said in the conclusion of its cognizance order that the facts mentioned in the closure report presented by the CBI regarding the essential facts of the incident, various investigation reports available on the file, contradictions in the statements of witnesses during the investigation, as well as the evidence presented by the complainant side, prima facie show that at the time of the incident, Anandpal Singh had surrendered and was caught alive by the police force. Thereafter, he was beaten up and shot from close range.
