Rampur Tiraha Case: Two former PAC constables sentenced to life imprisonment

MEERUT: The court of the additional district judge (ADJ), Muzaffarnagar, on Monday, sentenced two former PAC constables to life imprisonment for raping and robbing a female protester from Uttarakhand in the 30-year-old Rampur Tiraha incident in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district.

“The court had convicted the two constables, Milap Singh and Virendra Pratap, on Friday and pronounced punishment today,” said additional district government counsel (ADGC) of Muzaffarnagar, Pravendra Kumar. He said that both retired constables were sent to jail to serve life imprisonment and were also fined ₹50,000 each.

The convicted PAC constables were posted in 41st battalion of PAC which was camped in Ghaziabad during the time of incident.

At least seven Uttarakhand activists were killed, and many women activists were allegedly molested during police firing at Rampur Tiraha in Muzaffarnagar on October 1, 1994. The activists were on their way to Delhi from Rishikesh to raise their demand for a separate state of Uttarakhand that was later carved out of Uttar Pradesh on November 9, 2000.

As per Kumar, the court of ADJ Shakti Singh convicted now retired PAC constables Milap Singh and Virendra Pratap under sections 354, 376 (2) (G), 392 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) presented 15 eyewitnesses in the court, including the then Uttar Pradesh home secretary Dr Deepti Vilas, who were examined during the hearing.

The additional district judge (ADJ) in Muzaffarnagar, while delivering the sentence on Monday, compared the Rampur Tiraha incident with Jallianwala Bagh tragedy and denied any sympathy towards the convicted PAC constables. He drew parallels to the firing on innocent and unarmed protesters in Jallianwala Bagh during British rule, emphasising the gravity of the Rampur Tiraha incident.

“The protesters were on way to Delhi for a peaceful demonstration when they were fired upon, and a female protester was raped and robbed. Such acts are intolerable in a civilised society, as peaceful protest is a fundamental right guaranteed by the constitution to all citizens,” he said

CBI’s deputy SP SR Agarwal had lodged a case in Rampur Tiraha incident on January 25, 1995 and miscellaneous writs filed by Uttarakhand Sangharsh Samiti in the case were also accommodated in it for investigation.

A probe revealed that protestors from different parts of Uttarakhand, including women, were on the way to Delhi on the night of October 1, 1994, when the buses carrying them were stopped at Rampur Tiraha in Muzaffarnagar.

A few cops broke the window panes of one bus and allegedly hurled abuses at its occupants. Meanwhile, two PAC constables looted a gold chain and some money from a female protestor and later outraged her modesty.

Cases were registered against 1,500 protestors who were travelling in more than 200 buses. Later, seven cases were also registered against cops on the charges of committing rape, loot, distorting evidence etc.

The CBI investigated seven cases on the directions of the Allahabad high court. They include government versus Radha Mohan Dwivedi (rape), government versus Brij Kishore (planting weapon), government versus SP Mishra (disposing of dead bodies of protestors), government versus Moti Singh and two cases in government versus Rajbeer Singh (tampering with police record and fake medical certificates).

Cases against Moti Singh and Rajbeer were closed after their deaths. Currently, four cases are under trial in which the court convicted Milap Singh and Virendra Pratap. Both accused were present in the court when the court convicted them..