New Delhi, Aug 24 A Delhi court has convicted two men for attempting to kill a traffic police head constable by firing at him during vehicle checking in Vivek Vihar in 2019.
Additional Sessions Judge Harvinder Singh was hearing a case against Rashid and Deepak alias Bashira and convicted them under the provisions relating to attempt to murder, obstructing a public servant and assaulting a public servant in discharge of his duties.
Rashid was also convicted under the Arms Act for possessing and using an illegal firearm.
In an order dated August 18, the court said, “Both accused namely Rashid and Deepak alias Bashira stand convicted for offences punishable under Section 307, 186 & 353 IPC read with Section 34 IPC and accused Rashid additionally stands convicted for offences punishable under Arms Act.”
According to the prosecution, the incident took place around 12.30 pm on January 30, 2019, when traffic police officials were checking vehicles near ITI Vivek Vihar.
The court was told that Rashid was riding a motorcycle with Deepak as the pillion rider. After they were stopped and asked to produce vehicle documents, Rashid allegedly pulled out a country-made pistol and pointed it at head constable Harender.
Deepak allegedly exhorted him to fire. Rashid pulled the trigger, but sub-inspector Sohan Pal Singh intervened, causing the bullet to go upwards and miss the head constable. Rashid was apprehended at the spot, while Deepak fled. Five live cartridges and the firearm were recovered from Rashid, according to the judgment.
Deepak was arrested from his native village in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, about two months later and was identified by the prosecution witnesses during a test identification parade.
The defence argued that no independent public witness had been examined and questioned the absence of CCTV footage, fingerprints and a hand-wash test of Rashid.
Rejecting the arguments, the court said non-joining of public witnesses was not by itself sufficient to discard the prosecution case. It noted that the investigating officer had tried to find public witnesses and CCTV footage but could not find any covering the spot.
The court also held that the investigating officer's failure to preserve Rashid's hand-wash was only a lapse and did not make the prosecution case doubtful.
It found the testimony of the three traffic police officials reliable and said there were no substantial contradictions regarding the firing and recovery of the weapon.
The court found both men guilty of acting with common intention, attempting to murder the policeman and obstructing him in discharge of his duties.
