A man, who had injured cops with an illegal weapon 25 years ago to deter them from discharging their duty, has been sentenced to three years imprisonment by a Delhi court which said the testimonies of the policemen were "consistent and reliable".
Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Bansal awarded the imprisonment to Ghaziabad resident Ranjeet in a case of July 1989 and relied on the statements of the injured cops, saying that merely because they were policemen, their testimonies cannot be viewed with doubt.
"..I find that testimonies of all three injured police officials are consistent and reliable. The fact that all the three had received injuries proves their presence at the spot. Merely because these injured persons are police officials, their testimonies cannot be viewed with doubt," the judge said.
It said that prosecution had proved that accused was possessing a knife which he had used to hurt three policemen.
"Prosecution has been able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that it was the accused who caused hurt to the police officials. Therefore, accused is held guilty and is convicted under section 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the IPC as well as section 27 (punishment for using arms) of the Arms Act," the court said.
The court took noted that he remained in custody for around 15 months and also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on him.
The court, however, diluted the charge of attempt to murder and convicted Rajneet for causing hurt to deter the cops from their duties, saying that his intention was only to cause injuries to the cops and escape from the spot.
"Accused was alone and there were nine police officials. It is next to impossible that accused who was having knife only could even think of killing police officials. His only intention was to cause injuries to them and escape from the place," the court said.
According to the police, Ranjeet was caught on March 16, 1989, for illegally possessing a knife and for trying to kill police personnel while they were trying to nab him and an FIR was registered. He had stabbed three cops with the knife leaving them injured.
Ranjeet later absented himself from the proceedings and was declared a proclaimed offender. The trial was reopened after he was apprehended again in January this year.
Rajneet had claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case and pleaded not guilty.
