Amid the ongoing controversy over the encounter of Ranjit Singh (19), one of the alleged accused involved in the killing of two police personnel, the Gurdaspur court on Monday has directed the Punjab Police and telecoms service providers to immediately preserve call detail records (CDR) and GPS location of police personnel involved in the encounter or privy to the investigation.
Hearing the petition filed by Ranjit’s mother, Sukhjinder Kaur, seeking free and fair probe into the encounter, which she termed as ‘staged’, the court of judicial magistrate (1st class), Gurdaspur, came up with series of directions including preserving the calls records and GPS locations of Gurdaspur’s senior superintendent of police, in-charge of crime investigation agency (CIA) and station house officers of Dorangla and Purana Shala police stations from February 20 to February 28. The court also ordered to preserve all the call records and mobile phone location of the deceased.
The court also directed the investigators to preserve the CCTV footage from the vicinity of the encounter and to include the same during the investigation.
Meanwhile, the public prosecutor opposed providing the call records and location data, arguing that it could endanger the personal security of police officials and reveal the identities of informers.
However, the court observed that although examining the location data of police officials may amount to an invasion of their privacy, the right to a free and fair trial under Article 21 of the Constitution prevails in the pursuit of discovering the truth.
On February 22, Punjab Police ASI Gurnam Singh and home guard jawan Ashok Kumar were found dead with gunshot wounds inside a checkpost at Adhian village in Gurdaspur district, about 2 km from the international border with Pakistan.
Police later identified Ranjit Singh (19), Inderjit Singh (21) and Dilawar Singh (19) for their alleged involvement in the killings, believed to be at the behest of their Pakistan-based handlers backed by the spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
On February 25, Ranjit, a resident of Adhian village, was shot dead in an exchange of fire with police after he fled custody.
Ranjit’s family has raised questions over the encounter, which sparked criticism from opposition parties who sought a judicial probe into the matter.
On the plea of Sukhjinder Kaur demanding the post-mortem to be conducted at PGIMER, Chandigarh, the court cited jurisdictional limitations and referred the matter to the Gurdaspur chief judicial magistrate (CJM) for further decision on March 2.
Meanwhile, the court also directed Gurdaspur’s senior medical officer to constitute a three-member board of doctors to examine the gunshot injury on the arm of the CIA incharge Gurmeet Singh, who was leading the team that allegedly engaged with Ranjit Singh.
“The board must specifically report whether the injury appears to be self-inflicted,” the court mentioned.
On the family’s plea in making certain changes in the special investigation team, the court maintained that the SIT has already been constituted by the police to be headed by SP-level officers, and the Dinanagar SDM has been appointed to conduct the magisterial inquiry.
“There is a clear conflict of interest as SHO, Purana Shala, who is under scanner, is part of SIT, which would fail to provide justice to the family. There must be an independent judicial probe to be conducted by a sitting high court judge, as demanded by the family,” said human rights activist Sarabjit Singh Verka.
According to the Punjab Police, Ranjit Singh was taken into custody on February 24 for an investigation. The police claimed that Ranjit escaped after the vehicle taking him for recovery of a weapon overturned in the wee hours on Wednesday (February 25). Police said that Ranjit was allegedly cornered near Purana Shalla, where he died in a shootout after firing upon the police.
Countering police theory, Ranjit’s mother alleged that the police had picked up Ranjit Singh from his home at 4 pm, a day before the encounter and concocted the whole story of an encounter. The Aadhian village panchayat also passed a resolution in support of Ranjit Singh’s family.
