HARBANS SINGH Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) MOHD . Ayub Mir, appellant in Crl. Appeal No. 384/04, and Harbans Singh, appellant in Crl. Appeal No. 331/04, were convicted by a common judgment dated 6.4.2004 in FIR 34/2002 under Sections 3/20/22 of Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (in short 'POTA') dated 2.7.2002 P.S. Special Cell (S.B.). Both the appellants have been sentenced to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 22 of POTA. Mohd. Ayub Mir has been sentenced to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- & in default simple imprisonment for one month under Section 3(5) of POTA and to rigorous imprisonment for 10 years for the offence under Section 20 of POTA.

(2.) AS per the prosecution case appellant, Mohd. Ayub Mir, a terrorist of Lashkar-e-Taiba (in short "LeT") was staying in Room No. 204, Hotel Tamanna, Gall Kasimajan, Ballimaran, about which an information was registered in Daily Diary of Police Station Special Cell, Lodhi Colony on account of which he was under watch. It is alleged that the police had also received information from Jammu and Kashmir police that Mohd. Ayub Mir was a resident of Sri Nagar and was a surrendered militant of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front and was an active terrorist of LeT, a terrorist organization, and was required by the J and K police. The police further claims to have received an information that on 28.6.2002 the appellant, Mohd. Ayub Mir, would receive amount sent through hawala in the Central Park near Palika Bazar, Connaught Place. The police was alerted and followed his movements. On the relevant day one Tejinder Singh s/o Shri Gurcharan Singh was joined in the raiding party. Mohd. Ayub Mir was identified by his clothes, namely, blue jeans and yellow T-shirt. At 2.30 p.m., another person, Harbans Singh (appellant in Crl. Appeal No. 331/04), came to him and talked with him. Prosecution alleges that Mohd. Ayub Mir took out a 10 rupee note from the pocket of his shirt and gave it to Harbans Singh who matched the same with the paper slip which he took out from his own shirt's pocket. Harbans Singh then put the note and the slip in his pocket and handed over black polythene packet to Mohd. Ayub Mir. Both were immediately nabbed. Further, the prosecution case is that on interrogation, Mohd. Ayub Mir admitted of his contacts with LeT and delivery of Rs. 7 lakhs through hawala payments for the above militant organization from Harbans Singh. The polythene packet contained 14 packs of 100 notes of denomination of Rs. 500/-. The 10 rupee note and the slip of paper were also recovered from the pocket of Harbans Singh and both were booked for the offence under Section 3/20 and 22 of POTA.

(3.) THE prosecution examined 13 witnesses. The important witnesses for the prosecution are PW6, Neeraj Kumar, SI, Special Cell, PW-9, Ved Prakash, Inspector, Special Cell, PW-10, Rajinder Singh and PW-12, Rajbir Singh, all of whom were present when the two appellants, Mohd. Ayub Mir and Harbans Singh, were apprehended on 2.7.2002. PW-4, Ujjwal Misra, DCP, Special Branch recorded the confessional statement of Mohd. Ayub Mir and Harbans Singh. Both the appellants were eventually also produced before the CMM, Ms. Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, PW-5 for confirmation of the confessional statements. The other witnesses examined are more or less formal and their testimonies are not required to be gone through for the purpose of present appeal. Both the appellants deny having made the confessional statements. Harbans Singh further denies having been arrested from the Central Park, Connaught Place and claims that he was arrested from the office of Deepak Jain, Gali No. 76, Regarpura, Karol Bagh on 28.6.2002. Both of them deny having confirmed their confessional statements when they were produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi. Both of them claimed to have been framed in the case.