Baiting Belur, missing link to Bhojpur killings. Uncertainty prevails over how to bring ex-IPS officer in 1996 case to book
In a bizarre case of a missing link for 20 years, uncertainty prevails on how to bring former IPS officer Jyoti Belur to book. A bullet from her service revolver was found embedded in one of the victims of 1996 Bhojpur alleged fake encounter case.
In a judgment that comes 20 years after the incident, a Special CBI Court on Wednesday held four policemen guilty of killing four innocent youth in cold blood and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
Belur was not named as an accused in the CBI charge sheet but taking suo motu cognisance of the ballistic report, the court, using powers provided in CrPc section 319, had named her as an accused.
A 1993 batch IPS officer of Uttarakhand cadre, Belur had been absent since Otober 1, 2005. The Union Home ministry on November 21 last year termed her as deemed to have resigned for being absent from duty since October 1, 2005. At the time of the encounter, she headed the Ghaziabad range as an assistant superintendent of police (ACP).
The ministry invoked Rule 7(2) of All India Service (Study Leave) Regulations, 1950 to process deemed resignation for being unauthorisedly absent after expiry of leave/study leave.
During investigation, the CBI, in its ballistic examination, had found that the second bullet found in the body of Jasbir, one of the victims, was fired from Belur's service revolver. It remains a matter of conjecture whether the bullet was actually fired by Belur or a junior had used her revolver.
Interestingly, Belur, supposed to have settled in the United Kingdom for good, has published a book titled Permission to Shoot? that deals with the subject of use of deadly force in democracies and which brings a new dimension to the problem of police abuse of deadly force by concentrating on the social and political settings in India and the United States.
In a damning judgment against the UP Police, the special CBI court held four policemen — the then station house officer Lal Singh, sub-inspector Joginder Singh and two constables Surya Bhan and Subhash Chand — guilty of murder in the alleged fake encounter.
Four youth, aged between 17 and 20, were gunned down by the cops, who had termed them criminals.
The court has repeatedly summoned Belur since 2007 for the hearing but she never showed up to depose. Her petitions against the court's summon orders were rejected by the Allahabad High Court as well as the Supreme Court
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