New Delhi: Upholding Ariz Khan’s conviction in the 2008 Batla House encounter case, the Delhi High Court on Thursday commuted his death penalty handed by a trial court to life imprisonment.
On August 18, the court had reserved its verdict on the confirmation of death penalty to Khan in the case, in which two suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists and decorated Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma were killed in Jamia Nagar.
A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Amit Sharma granted the relief to Khan, turning his death sentence to life-time jail.
A copy of the detailed order is awaited.
The high court had earlier received a reference for confirmation of the death sentence handed to Khan.
Days after the serial blasts in the national capital, in which over 35 people were killed and more than 150 were injured, the Special Cell of Delhi Police had on September 19, 2008 carried out an encounter at Batla House in Jamia Nagar. Sharma had raided the place looking for terrorists responsible for the blasts
Ariz Khan was convicted for the murder of Sharma and other offences on March 8, 2021 and was sentenced to death on March 15, 2021, while another convict, Shahzad Ahmed, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the case.
The trial court had convicted Khan, saying that it was duly proved that he and his associates murdered the police officer. The convict was sentenced to death and a fine of Rs 11 lakh was imposed on him, making it clear that Rs 10 lakh should be immediately released to the family members of Sharma.
The court had called the case a “rarest of the rare” while awarding death penalty to Khan, who had fled from the spot and was declared a proclaimed offender.
He was arrested on February 14, 2018. The police claimed that he was present at Batla House and managed to give police a slip during the encounter.
–IANS