New Delhi (Agency): On Friday, the Delhi High Court reserved its verdict on the confirmation of the death penalty for Ariz Khan. This decision is related to the notorious 2008 Batla House encounter, where a decorated Delhi Police Inspector, Mohan Chand Sharma, was killed.
The encounter occurred in Jamia Nagar in south Delhi on September 19, 2008, between the police and terrorists. Two terrorists were killed, and Inspector Sharma lost his life during the event. The police were searching for terrorists responsible for synchronized bomb explosions that had taken place days earlier in the national capital, killing 39 people and wounding 159.
The court’s bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Amit Sharma stated, “Arguments have been heard. Judgement reserved,” after the convict and the State finished their submissions.
Advocate M S Khan, arguing for Ariz Khan, suggested that there was a “probability of transformation and reformation” in his client, which might mean a life sentence instead of the death penalty.
Special Public Prosecutor Rajesh Mahajan countered this argument, presenting Ariz Khan’s social investigation and psychological analysis reports. He said that Khan has “adequate intellectual and cognitive functioning” and his conduct in jail was “unsatisfactory.” He also emphasized that killing a uniformed police officer was a “rarest of rare” case justifying the death sentence.
On March 8, 2021, the trial court had convicted Ariz Khan, determining that he, along with associates, had murdered the police official. The capital punishment was awarded to him on March 15, 2021, along with a fine of Rs 11 lakh, with Rs 10 lakh going to the family of Sharma.
When a trial court sentences a person to death, the judgement must be examined by the high court, where arguments are heard to confirm the death sentence.
Besides the death penalty to Ariz Khan, the trial court had also sentenced Indian Mujahideen terrorist Shahzad Ahmed to life imprisonment in the case. Both convicts challenged their conviction, but Shahzad died in jail during the appeal process.
The trial court had described Ariz Khan’s act of firing on a police team without provocation as “abhorrent and brutal.” The court said that Khan acted like a “dreaded and well-trained terrorist” who deserved no leniency.
Ariz Khan had escaped from the scene and was declared a proclaimed offender. He was arrested on February 14, 2018, and faced trial. The court mentioned his involvement in various other blast cases in Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and UP, where hundreds were killed or injured.
He was also sentenced to life imprisonment for attempting to murder, three years for obstructing police, 10 years for voluntarily causing grievous hurt, two years for assault on a public servant, and three years for the offence under the Arms Act.
