New Delhi: Nearly 40 years after a Naxalite
was shot dead by police in an alleged fake encounter, the
Supreme Court on Wednesday granted the green signal for the
prosecution of the then Kerala Director General of Police
P Vijayan in connection with the incident.
A bench of Justices P Sathasivam and H L Dattu, while
dismissing the appeal filed by 85-year old Vijayan, however,
allowed him to seek permission of the special CBI court to
dispense with his personal appearance in the case and urged it
to expedite the trial.
The special court had earlier dismissed Vijayan's plea
under 277 CrPC for discharge and the Kerala High Court had
affirmed the order, after which he appealed in the apex court.
Vijayan had filed the appeal challenging the decision of
CBI to prosecute him and the trial court's decision to frame
the charge under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 34 (Common
intention) against him and certain other police officers in
the case.
In the instant case, the Kerala police had claimed
Varghese, one of the most wanted Naxalites allegedly
responsible for a number of killings of landlords and police,
was shot dead by its personnel on February 18, 1970, while he
was trying to escape from police custody.
The capture of Varghese was highlighted as one of the
achievements of the Kerala Police at that time and the police
personnel involved in the said operation were given out-of-
turn promotions and increments.
Vijayan also received various medals while in service for
his role in tackling the naxalite militancy in Kerala.
However, in 1998, reports appeared in various
newspapers in Kerala that the killing of Varghese was in a
fake encounter and that senior police officers are involved in
the said fake encounter.
On the basis of the High Court's direction, CBI took up
investigation and constable Ramachandran Nair filed a counter
affidavit dated Januaury 11, 1999, in which he had made a
confession that he had shot Varghese on the instruction of the
then Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Lakshmana where
Vijayan was also present.
On the basis of the confession, CBI filed the chargesheet
and the special court framed charges against the accused
officers, including Vijayan.
Writing the judgement for the bench, Justice Sathasivam
said "in the case on hand, though, the learned trial Judge has
not assigned detailed reasons for dismissing the discharge
petition filed under Section 227 but it is clear from his
order that after consideration of the relevant materials
charge had been framed for offence under Section 302 read with
Section 34 IPC and because of the same, he dismissed the
discharge petition."
According to the apex court, after evaluating the
material produced by the prosecution and after considering
the probability of the case, the judge, being satisfied by the
existence of sufficient grounds against Vijayan and another
accused, framed a charge.
"Whether the material at the hands of the prosecution are
sufficient or not are matters for trial. At this stage, it
cannot be claimed that there is no sufficient ground for
proceeding against the appellant and discharge is the only
remedy.
"Further, whether the trial will end in conviction or
acquittal is also immaterial. All these relevant aspects have
been carefully considered by the High Court and it rightly
affirmed the order passed by the trial judge dismissing the
discharge petition," the bench said in its judgment.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, January 27, 2010, 22:13