Batla House encounter: HC reduces Ariz Khan's death sentence to life

The Delhi high court on Thursday commuted to life term the death penalty awarded to Ariz Khan following his conviction in the sensational 2008 Batla House encounter in which Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma lost his life, saying while it was conscious that the country lost a decorated police officer in the line of duty, the case did not fall in the "rarest of rare" category to merit capital punishment.

A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Amit Sharma upheld a trial court order convicting Khan of the murder of the police official and said testimonies of the eyewitnesses and other material established his presence at the place of incident as well as his firing at the raiding party while fleeing from the spot.

However, there was nothing on record, the court added, to "attribute the fatal shot responsible" for the death of deceased -- whose contribution can never be forgotten-- "to any particular accused".

"We are of the opinion that the present case does not fall under the category of a 'rarest of rare case‘. Accordingly, this court is of the considered view that the sentence of rigorous imprisonment for life would be an appropriate sentence," the court said as it refused to confirm the death penalty awarded to Khan who was a 23-year-old B.Tech student at the time of the incident.

"It is pertinent to note that there is nothing on record to attribute the fatal shot responsible for the death of late inspector Mohan Chand Sharma to any particular accused... This court is conscious of the fact that during the incident, the country lost a decorated police officer who sacrificed his life in the line of duty. His contribution will never be forgotten by an eternally grateful nation," the court said.

Sharma, an officer of the Delhi police's special cell, was killed in the encounter between police and terrorists in south Delhi's Jamia Nagar on September 19, 2008.

Two terrorists were also killed in the encounter that took place days after five synchronised bomb explosions rocked the national capital, killing 39 people and wounding 159.

Sharma had raided the place while looking for the terrorists responsible for the blasts.

In its 105-page judgement, the high court observed that the shootout at Batla House was "neither pre-planned nor pre-mediated" and as per the prosecution itself, the raid was conducted for apprehending a suspect but when the police party reached the flat, it was fired upon.

It said admittedly, there was no prior information regarding Khan, an occupant of Flat no. L-18, Batla House along with others, at that time as he was neither a suspect nor a person being investigated.

In its order, the court also considered the "psychological assessment report" of Khan, which did not reflect that he was "incapable of reformation" and "indicated a balanced personality, without any propensity for psychological or emotional disorder", and modified the trial court's order of sentence.

Besides directing him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life for murder, the court also awarded him rigorous imprisonment for 10 years, 7 years, 2 years and 3 months for the offences of attempt to murder, voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty, assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty and obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions, respectively.

The court also awarded Khan simple imprisonment for 3 years each for non-appearance after being declared a proclaimed offender and for the offence under Arms Act.

The court said all sentences will run concurrently.

The court also imposed a total fine of Rs 1.15 lakh on Khan for all the offences, noting that he was not capable of paying the amount of fine of Rs 11 lakh imposed on him by trial court.

"The sentence of death imposed on the appellant by the learned Trial Court is not confirmed. The order on sentence dated 15.03.2021 passed by Sh. Sandeep Yadav, ASJ-02, South-East, Saket in Sessions Case No. 212/18 .. is modified to the extent as stated hereinabove," the court said in the order.

The trial court had convicted Khan on March 8, 2021, saying it was duly proved that he and his associates killed the police official and fired gunshots at him.

Ariz Khan had fled from the spot and was declared a proclaimed offender. He was arrested on February 14, 2018 and put on trial.

On March 15, 2021, the trial court sentenced Khan to death and imposed a fine of Rs 11 lakh on him, making it clear that Rs 10 lakh should immediately be released to the family members of Sharma.

It said his offence fell under the "rarest of the rare category", warranting the maximum sentence and that he be "hanged by the neck" till death.

Subsequently, the high court received a reference for confirmation of Khan's death sentence.

When a trial court sentences any person to death, its judgement is examined by the high court which needs to confirm the penalty before the culprit is executed.

Ariz Khan, represented by lawyers M S Khan, Quasar Khan and Prashant Prakash, also filed an appeal before the high court challenging the trial court orders.

Special counsel Rajesh Mahajan appeared for State before the high court and argued that killing a uniformed police officer was a "rarest of rare" case which merited the death sentence.