A Delhi court on Monday awarded Ariz Khan, accused in the Batla House encounter case, the death penalty days after convicting him for the killing of police officer Mohan Chand Sharma in 2008. Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Yadav concluded that Khan’s crime fell under the ‘rarest of rare’ category to justify his death sentence.
The court said that the ‘convict on account of his despicable act has forfeited his right to live.’ The order, according to the Bar and Bench website, said, “After balancing mitigating circumstances against aggravating circumstances, it is concluded that it is a rarest of the rare case where convict deserves maximum sentence provided under law. It is the level of magnitude, decree of brutality, attitude and mindset of wrongdoer behind the crime alongwith other factors which make it a rarest of the rare case.. Interest of justice will be met if convict is awarded death penalty.”
Last week, while convicting Khan for the killing of Sharma, the judge had said that the evidence ‘adduced on record by the prosecution leaves no matter of doubt that the prosecution has proved the case beyond all reasonable doubt and that the accused is liable to be convicted.’
The court on Monday said in its 22-page order that the abhorrent and brutal act of firing on police party without any provocation itself showed that Khan was not only a threat to society but was also an enemy of the State.
Inspector Sharma of the Special Cell of the Delhi Police was killed during the 2008 Batla House encounter in Jamia Nagar in India’s national capital. A trial court in July 2013 sentenced Shahzad Ahmed, another alleged member of the Indian Mujahideen, to life imprisonment in connection with the case. Ahmed had approached the Delhi High Court appealing the lower court’s order. His appeal is currently pending before the High Court.
As for Ariz Khan, he was declared a proclaimed offender after he fled from the spot of the encounter before being arrested on 14 February 2018.