Examiner Bureau | Anantnag:
The Court of the Principal Sessions Judge, Anantnag, has sentenced Showkat Ahmad Bhat, a resident of Batpora Khanabal, to life imprisonment after convicting him for the 2019 murder of gas tanker driver Naseeb Singh in the Qazigund killing case arising out of FIR No. 09/2019 of Police Station Qazigund.
Principal Sessions Judge Tahir Khurshid Raina convicted the accused under Section 302 of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), holding that the prosecution had established the charge beyond reasonable doubt through eyewitness testimony, medical, forensic and circumstantial evidence.
According to the judgment, the case was initially registered as a road accident under Sections 279, 337 and 427 of the RPC after a gas tanker plunged into a deep gorge near Glass Tower on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway on January 17, 2019. However, the investigation took a dramatic turn when an eyewitness revealed that the incident was the result of a deliberate assault rather than an accident, leading police to invoke Section 302 of the RPC.
The Court found that the accused, who was driving a 12-tyre truck, allegedly developed a grudge after his vehicle sustained damage in a collision with the gas tanker. It held that he overtook the tanker near Glass Tower, forced it to stop, dragged driver Naseeb Singh out of the vehicle and repeatedly struck him with an iron rod. The critically injured victim was left on the roadside while the unattended tanker rolled into a deep gorge. Singh later succumbed to his injuries during treatment.
The prosecution relied on the testimony of eyewitness Mehraj Ahmad Naik, whose statement was recorded before a Magistrate under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). It also produced a Test Identification Parade (TIP), recovery of the iron rod at the instance of the accused, medical and forensic reports, call detail records placing the accused at the crime scene, seizure of the offending truck and other corroborative evidence.
The Court accepted the medical evidence establishing that the victim sustained multiple grievous injuries resulting in massive haemorrhage and cardio-respiratory arrest. Doctors who conducted the post-mortem opined that the repeated blows inflicted with the recovered iron rod were sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report also ruled out poisoning.
While awarding the sentence, the Court observed that the offence had resulted in the loss of an innocent human life and warranted severe punishment. However, after balancing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it held that the case did not fall within the “rarest of rare” category warranting the death penalty.
The Court noted that the convict was a first-time offender from a modest socio-economic background who had worked as a driver before his arrest. It also considered that he has an aged mother, a wife and three minor children dependent on him and had maintained satisfactory conduct during nearly five years of incarceration. The prosecution, the Court observed, had failed to establish that the convict was beyond the possibility of reformation and rehabilitation.
Accordingly, the Court sentenced Showkat Ahmad Bhat to imprisonment for life under Section 302 of the RPC and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000. In default of payment, he will undergo further simple imprisonment as stipulated in the sentencing order. The Court directed that the fine amount, if recovered, be paid to the legal heirs of the deceased.
Recognising the financial hardship faced by the victim’s family, the Court also recommended payment of Rs 5 lakh as compensation under the Jammu and Kashmir Victim Compensation Scheme, 2019, and directed the Legal Services Authority to process and release the amount expeditiously.
The prosecution was conducted by Public Prosecutor Ab Rashid Mir.
The Court further directed that copies of the judgment and sentencing order be forwarded to the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in accordance with law and informed the convict of his statutory right to file an appeal within the prescribed limitation period.
