2008 Rampur attack: HC overturns death penalty for 4, one's life term

The Allahabad HC reversed death sentences for four convicts and a life term for one in the 2008 Rampur CRPF terror attack. They were convicted under the Arms Act and sentenced to 10 years, which they have already served in custody.

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday reversed the death sentence of four convicts, including two Pak nationals and the life sentence of one convict in the 2008 Rampur CRPF camp terror attack case. In this terror attack, seven CRPF Personnel and one civilian were killed.

A division bench comprising justices Siddharth Verma and Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra set aside the death sentence awarded to Sharif, Sabahuddin, Imran Shehzad (Pakistani), Mohd Farooq (Pakistani) and life imprisonment awarded to Jang Bahadur.

High Court's New Verdict and Sentence

The High Court convicted four accused, including two Pakistani nationals, for possessing illegal arms and ammunition and sentenced them to an imprisonment of 10 years. They have already undergone the sentence in custody. They were in custody for the last 17 years.

Trial Court's Original Ruling

The trial court had convicted Sharif, Sabahuddin, Imran Shehzad (Pakistani), and Mohd Farooq (Pakistani) for the offence of waging war against the State and the Offence under UAPA. Jang Bahadur was convicted of the conspiracy of waging war against the State.

The trial court in 2019 had awarded the death penalty to four Convicts, namely Sharif, Sabahuddin, Imran Shehzad (Pakistani), and Mohd Farooq (Pakistani). The court had awarded Life imprisonment to Jang Bahadur.

Earlier, the trial court had acquitted the accused, namely Gulab Khan and Mohd Kausar.

The Appeal and Defense Arguments

They had challenged their conviction before the Allahabad High Court. Advocate M S Khan appeared for the Convicts/appellants. He argued that the appellants' identification was highly doubtful, as they were unknown. "In this situation, how could they be identified by their names in the dock without conducting an identification parade?" they said.

It was also argued that it is unclear under whose custody the fingerprints taken at the scene and the empty cartridges were kept.

Background of the 2008 Terror Attack

The CRPF camp at Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, was attacked in the intervening night of December 31, 2007 and January 1, 2008, by the operatives of the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba with AK-47 and grenades.

The Uttar Pradesh police investigated the case and arrested the accused in February 2008 in Lucknow. (ANI)

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