Batla house encounter: Govt moves HC seeking death for convict

New Delhi: The Delhi Police has moved the Delhi High Court seeking enhancement of life term to death for 2008 Batla House encounter case convict Shahzad Ahmed for killing a decorated police officer on duty. A bench of Justices PK Bhasin and VP Vaish issued notice to Shahzad on the appeal of the prosecution seeking death penalty for him. [caption id=“attachment_1240795” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of the Batla House encounter. PTI[/caption] Advocate Rajesh Mahajan, who has filed the appeal on behalf of Delhi government, said, “We have sought enhancement of the punishment awarded to Shahzad on the ground that the case is rarest of rare as it involves the killing of a police officer during discharge of his duty.” The high court has sought response from the convict by 16 January. Shahzad, 25, was awarded life imprisonment on 30 July by a sessions court for killing the police officer in the 19 September, 2008 encounter when a team of Delhi Police Special Cell raided the Batla House flat in Jamia Nagar on a tip-off that terrorists involved in the 13 September, 2008 serial blasts in the city were holed up there. He was also held guilty of injuring two other cops. Shahzad’s appeal against his conviction is also pending before the high court. The trial court had on 25 July held Shahzad guilty on charges of murder, attempting to cause death and various other provisions of the IPC and the Arms Act. The court had also found him guilty of assaulting police officers and obstructing them from doing their duty. While awarding him life term, the court had noted that death of Sharma had shocked the collective conscience of the entire nation. He was also slapped with a fine of Rs.95,000 of which Rs.40,000 was to be given to Sharma’s family and 20,000 to Head Constable Balwant Singh, who was injured in the encounter. Shahzad is also among the 13 suspected terrorists facing trial in the 2008 Delhi serial blasts case. The multiple blasts had left 26 dead and 133 injured. PTI