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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to confirm death penalty to Ariz Khan following his conviction in the sensational 2008 Batla House encounter case in which decorated Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma lost his life.

A division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Amit Sharma upheld the trial court order convicting Khan in the case but said that the sentence of death penalty imposed by the trial court was "not confirmed".

The court modified the order on sentence dated March 15, 2021 rendered by the trial court.

Accordingly, the court disposed of the reference for confirmation of the death sentence awarded to Khan.

A detailed copy of the order is awaited.

Notably, the high court, on August 18 had 'reserved its verdict' on confirmation of death penalty awarded to Khan. 

Khan had filed an appeal in the high court in July 2021, challenging the order of the Delhi Trial Court which had awarded him the death penalty for killing a Police official.

The appeal had been filed through Advocate MS Khan challenging the March 15, 2021 order of the Saket District Court, Delhi.

The Trial Court while awarding the death penalty to Khan had said that "the convict had forfeited his right to live on account of his despicable act of killing a police officer on duty."

After balancing mitigating circumstances against aggravating circumstances, the trial court had concluded that the act of the accused came under the rarest of the rare case and therefore he deserved the maximum sentence provided under the law. The court had cleared that the factors such as the degree of brutality, and mindset of wrongdoer behind the crime, made the gravity of the offence very severe and hence justice would be met only if the punishment was given according to the gravity of offence, which was not less than a death penalty.

In its order, the trial court had further said that the hateful and brutal act of firing on the police party without any provocation itself showed that Khan was not only a threat to society but was also an enemy of the State.

The court had also imposed a fine of Rs 11 lakh on Khan out of which Rs 10 lakh was directed to be released as compensation to the wife of the deceased Police officer's wife.

As per the prosecution case, while conducting a raid in connection with a serial blast case, the team of Police officials was trapped in the drawing room of the said house and were forced to resort to open fire in self-defense. During the shootout, Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma and other Police personnel sustained bullet injuries. While one of the terrorists present in the drawing room also sustained bullet injuries, two of them, including Ariz, managed to escape from the flat in question through the main door. After being declared a proclaimed offender in 2009, Ariz Khan was finally arrested in 2018.

Case Title: State v. Ariz Khan alias Junaid alias Anna Alis Salim