NEW DELHI: Observing that the prosecution has not been able to prove a murder case, the Delhi High Court has set aside the conviction and life sentence awarded to a police officer for the alleged murder of a person. A Division Bench comprising Justices Mukta Gupta and Poonam A Bamba also asked the police commissioner to look into the anomalies in maintaining the ‘Asla Registers’ at police stations.
“It is evident that the prosecution has not been able to prove that the appellant committed the murder of the deceased beyond a reasonable doubt,” the court averred. Hence, the judgment of conviction and order on sentence is set aside, the bench said.
As per the case, the constable, Surender Kumar Mathur was convicted under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and section 27 of the Arms Act in an FIR registered in 2009. The case was registered after a dead body was found in a pool of blood in the kitchen of a flat in Rohini with a bullet injury on the body.
Three fired leads and two empty cartridges were lying near the body. The deceased was later identified by his father who stated that he had a suspicion on Mathur who was a constable in Delhi Police. Mathur was then interrogated by an inspector and he was arrested on January 21, 2013.
The prosecution tried to establish a motive on behalf of the cop to commit the crime citing a financial dispute between the appellant and the deceased. However, the father of the deceased has not supported the case prosecution.
The court observed that the ‘Asla Register’ was maintained in a “very haphazard manner” and there was “no set procedure” for recording either the issuance of a weapon or ammunition or its continued possession with any officer or when it was returned.
“Whenever the weapon was returned, the entry of issuance of weapon was simply struck off without noting any time and date of return,” it said. “If any weapon was not returned, the previous entry was struck off and was carried forward to a subsequent date, but without the signature of the concerned police officer to whom the weapon was issued,” the High Court pointed out.
