Lucknow. The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court rejected the bail applications of 34 policemen in connection with the killing of ten Sikhs in a fake encounter in Pilibhit in 1991. All of them were convicted in 2016. The court categorically refused to release the policemen on bail till the pendency of the appeal. July 25 has been fixed for the final hearing of their appeals. This order was passed by the bench of Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Brijraj Singh while rejecting the bail applications filed by Devendra Pandey and others.
According to the prosecution, some Sikh pilgrims were going on a bus from Pilibhit for pilgrimage on July 12, 1991. There were also children and women in this bus. This bus was stopped and 11 people were taken off. Of these, 10 were killed by showing encounters in Dhamela Kuan, Faguniya Ghat and Pattabhoji areas of Nioria, Bilsanda and Puranpur police station areas of Pilibhit respectively. The 11th person was a child, which has not been found till now.
While investigating this case, the police put up the final report. After this, on an application, the Supreme Court handed over the investigation to the CBI. After investigation, the CBI charged 57 accused. Ten accused died during the trial. On April 4, 2016, the Special Court of CBI in Lucknow convicted 47 accused in the incident and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
Everyone filed separate appeals in the High Court against the sentence. Along with the appeals, everyone also filed bail applications. The High Court had already granted bail to 12 accused on the ground of age or serious illness. The bail application of the rest was rejected. Their appeals have been listed for final hearing.
It was argued on behalf of the appellants that among the ten Sikhs killed, Baljit Singh alias Pappu, Jaswant Singh alias Bilji, Harminder Singh alias Minta and Surjan Singh alias Bittu were terrorists of Khalistan Liberation Front. Along with this, cases of heinous crimes like murder, dacoity, kidnapping and attack on police were registered against him. Many of the dead had long criminal histories.
At this point the Court observed that some of the deceased had no criminal history. In such a situation, treating everyone as terrorists and killing them by separating them from their wives and children cannot be justified in any way. Even if some of the dead were involved in anti-social activities and had a criminal history, the process of law should have been followed. Such barbaric and inhuman killings should not have been done by calling them terrorists.
Their application was rejected: Ramesh Chandra Bharti, Veerpal Singh, Nathu Singh, Dhani Ram, Sugam Chand, Collector Singh, Kunwar Pal Singh, Shyam Babu, Banwari Lal, Dinesh Singh, Sunil Kumar Dixit, Arvind Singh, Ram Nagina, Vijay Kumar Singh , Udai Pal Singh, Munna Khan, Durvijay Singh son Todi Lal, Mahavir Singh, Gayaram, Durvijay Singh son Dilaram, Harpal Singh, Ramchandra Singh, Rajendra Singh, Gyan Giri, Lakhan Singh, Nazim Khan, Narayan Das, Krishnaveer, Karan Singh, Rakesh Singh, Nemchandra, Shamsher Ahmed, Satinder Singh and Badan Singh.
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