STATE OF SIKKIM Vs. JASBIR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A. Facts...........................................................

(2.) On 14 December 2014, at about 19:40 hours, Lance Naik Rajesh Kumar of 17 Mountain Division of the Indian Army lodged a First Information Report (FIR No. 409/2014) before the Station House Officer at the Sadar Police Station in Gangtok stating inter alia that on the relevant date at around 6.00 p.m., when he returned to his barracks, he struck up a conversation with two riflemen for a short while. After that, as he was freshening up, between 6.30 p.m. and 6.45 p.m. he heard sounds of gunshots inside the barracks. He immediately rushed to the barracks and witnessed the respondent- accused, Lance Naik Jasbir Singh, opening fire on a rifleman, Balbir Singh, with an INSAS Rifle. The informant pulled the respondent-accused out of the barracks along with the rifle and simultaneously raised an alarm for help, on which Signalmen Ujjal Sinha and C.H. Anil arrived at the spot. The accused, in the meanwhile, escaped from the clutches of the informant. The informant then immediately rang up the medical room and returned to check on the injured rifleman, by which time he suspected that the he was already dead. FIR No. 409 of 2014 was registered on 14 December 2014 at the Sadar Police Station, Gangtok.

(3.) On 15 December 2014, the custody of the accused was handed over by the competent military authority to the Investigating Officer ("IO") and an arrest/ court surrender memo was issued by the Sub-Inspector of Police at the Sardar Police Station. While conducting the investigation, the IO issued a requisition to the Commanding Officer of the 17 Mountain Division Pro Unit, informing him that an FIR under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code 1860 ("IPC") had been registered against the respondent-accused. The IO requested certain documents for the purpose of investigation, namely: