While the Delhi Court’s verdict on the Batla House encounter has brought some degree of relief to the defence, the counsel and Shahzad Ahmad’s kin have decided to appeal against the conviction in the High Court.
Shahzad, the lone convict in the 2008 Batla House encounter case, was on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court for killing inspector MC Sharma, injuring other police officials, possessing arms and obstructing the cops from performing their duty, among other charges.
Slain inspector MC Sharma’s family, meanwhile, expressed dissatisfaction over the sentence and demanded death penalty for Shahzad.
The defence counsels and a visibly underwhelmed Shahzad were seen discussing the order and the appeal minutes after the court pronounced its sentence.
“After the court pronounced Shahzad guilty last week, we were afraid that it might commit another mistake and award him death penalty on Tuesday,” said defence counsel Satish Tamta. “After his conviction, we had argued that this is not a rarest of rare case and the court has agreed with the defence, Tamta added. “However, we still believe that there are several grounds on which the conviction itself can be challenged in the higher court.”
According to the defence’s theory, Shahzad was not even present in flat 108, building no. L-18, Batla House, when the encounter took place.
The Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association (JTSA), that has been protesting against Shazad’s arrest and conviction in the case, has decided to hold a press conference on Wednesday to raise questions over the trial court’s verdict. It will also release a booklet titled ‘Beyond Reasonable Doubt?’ that questions the verdict and analyses the entire incident.
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