A division bench of the Gujarat High Court on Friday suspended the life sentence of three Indian Air Force (IAF) officers who were convicted by Ahmedabad CBI court last year holding them guilty of murder and custodial death of an Air Force canteen civilian cook in 1995. A division bench granted them bail on the condition that they would not leave the country and would remain present during the hearing of their appeal against the conviction.
Advertisement
Advertisement
The bench of Justice SH Vora and Justice SV Pinto on Friday suspended the sentence of retired group captain Anoop Sood, retired sergeant Anil KN and serving sergeant Mahendra Singh Sherawat stating that the convicts “stand a fair chance of acquittal and the conviction recorded under sections 302, 348, 177 read with Section 120-B of the IPC is apparently erroneous and the conviction may not be sustainable.”
A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court, in May 2022,had convicted the trio and sentenced them to life imprisonment in a custodial death case, which took place at Jamnagar Air Force Station in Gujarat in 1995. The court had noted that custodial torture by the law-enforcing agencies is “one of the worst kind of crime in a society governed by the rule of law”.
Advertisement