Muzaffarnagar (UP), Jun 30 A special CBI court here on Tuesday sentenced three policemen, including a former station house officer (SHO), to 18 months imprisonment for falsely implicating Uttarakhand statehood activists and fabricating records in connection with the 1994 Rampur Tiraha police firing case.
Special CBI Magistrate Devendra Kumar Fauzdar convicted former Jhinjhana SHO Brij Kishore and retired constables Umesh Chand and Anil Kumar under sections 182 (false information, with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person), 211 (false charges) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 16,000 on each of them.
CBI Public Prosecutor Dhara Singh said the agency had filed a charge sheet against four policemen in the case. However, proceedings against one of the accused abated following his death during the pendency of the trial.
According to the prosecution, the CBI investigation found that police officials had falsely implicated Uttarakhand activists in criminal cases and fabricated records, including showing recovery of illegal firearms from them, to justify the police firing at Rampur Tiraha.
The Rampur Tiraha incident took place on October 2, 1994, when Uttarakhand statehood activists travelling from Rishikesh to Delhi were stopped by police at Rampur Tiraha in Muzaffarnagar.
Seven activists were killed in the police firing, while several women protesters were allegedly sexually assaulted, making it one of the most controversial episodes of the Uttarakhand statehood movement.
Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh on November 9, 2000.
