In a significant turn of events, the Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside a 2012 verdict by the Uttarakhand High Court that had previously sentenced three policemen to life imprisonment for their alleged involvement in the murder of a woman during a police operation in 2004.
The bench, comprising Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih, heard the appeals of the three policemen—Surendra Singh, Surat Singh, and Ashad Singh Negi. These appeals challenged the High Court’s decision which had overturned their earlier acquittal by the trial court.
The case stemmed from an incident in November 2004, when a police team, including the three men, attempted to intercept a car suspected of smuggling illegal liquor in Rishikesh. During the operation, another policeman, Head Constable Jagdish Singh, who has since passed away, fired a shot that killed a female co-passenger in the vehicle. Jagdish was convicted and sentenced by the trial court, a decision he appealed against in the High Court.
The High Court had dismissed Jagdish Singh’s appeal and simultaneously reversed the trial court’s acquittal of the other three policemen, convicting them under the Indian Penal Code’s Section 34, which pertains to acts done by several persons with a common intention.
However, the Supreme Court, in its judgment, noted that the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove that Surendra Singh, Surat Singh, and Ashad Singh Negi shared a common intention with Jagdish Singh in the shooting that resulted in the woman’s death. The bench emphasized that establishing a “prior meeting of minds” among the accused to plan the crime is essential for conviction under Section 34.
“The well-reasoned finding of the trial court, which had acquitted the three policemen, was erroneously overturned by the High Court based merely on their presence in the same vehicle as Jagdish,” stated the Supreme Court in its judgment.
