The deceased Mahender along with another person Ram Kumar were picked up by the police and tortured at the police station on August 24, 1987, after the former allegedly stabbed Tyagi.
Twenty-two years after a man died due to torture in a police station here, the Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of an SHO, but regretted the protracted delay in the trial during which even the deceased's own mother and relatives turned hostile.
However, since RP Tyagi, the then SHO of Vivek Vihar police station, was now of 67 years of age, a bench of justices HS Bedi and JM Panchal reduced the sentence to five years rigorous imprisonment from eight-year RI, but increased the fine to Rs5 lakh as against Rs two lakh imposed by the Delhi High Court.
The apex court said the convicted SHO would have to pay Rs5 lakh to the mother of deceased Mahender failing which his appeal challenging the Delhi High Court's judgement would automatically stand dismissed.
"This case exemplifies the repeated observations that a delay in the disposal of a criminal case leads to the destruction of the prosecution case. The incident happened in 1987, and the evidence was recorded in 2004. Little wonder, therefore, that all most all the prosecution witnesses including the mother, brothers, uncles etc of Mahender and Ram Kumar had been declared hostile as they had not supported the prosecution," the apex court observed.
The deceased Mahender along with another person Ram Kumar were picked up by the police and tortured at the police station on August 24, 1987, after the former allegedly stabbed Tyagi.
But ironically, the case lingered on for years and the evidence was recorded only in 2004. The sessions court imposed death sentence on Tyagi, who appealed in the Delhi High Court.
However, the Delhi High Court noted that the prosecution failed to marshal sufficient evidence as even the mother, brothers and other close relatives of Mahender turned hostile during the trial.
Hence it altered the conviction from section 302 (murder) to 304-Part II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and imposed a sentence of eight years RI on Tyagi.
Aggrieved, Tyagi filed the appeal in the apex court, which upheld the conviction but reduced the sentence as he is 67-year-old and all his post-retirement benefits have been withdrawn by the government consequent to his conviction.
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