Batla House encounter: Life imprisonment for lone convict Shahzad Ahmad

[caption id=“attachment_996663” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shahzad Ahmad was convicted by the court on various charges. Image courtesy: Ibnlive[/caption] New Delhi: Shahzad Ahmad, convicted for his role in the Batla House encounter case, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court. A fine of Rs 95,000 has also been slapped on him. Of the total amount, Rs 40,000 is to be paid to the family of slain inspector MC Sharma and Rs 20,000 to the injured police official Balwant Singh. The prosecution had sought death penalty for Shahzad arguing his crime constituted the rarest of rare cases and that there was “no scope for rehabilitation and reform” in his case. Rejecting the prosecution’s plea for death penalty, the judge said, “Ruminating facts of the case and also the circumstances of the convict, I find mitigating circumstances more than aggravating ones and hence case in hand is not a ‘rarest of the rare case’, which warrants death penalty upon the convict… it is urged that the convict is be not granted pardon or remission from the sentence.” Shahzad was present in court when the sentence was read out. He was convicted by the trial court on 26 July of firing at police officials and causing the death of officer MC Sharma in the controversial 2008 Batla House encounter case. He has also been held guilty of destroying evidence, assaulting public officials and preventing them from performing their duties. The defence had opposed the plea for death penalty arguing that the crime did not qualify as ‘a rarest of rare case’. The shootout, the prosecution had argued, was not pre-meditated and that it was “a spur of the moment” incident. Shahzad was said to have fled from Batla House along with another accused Junaid (still absconding) during the shootout. He was arrested in 2010. The encounter took place between the Special Cell of the Delhi Police and suspected terrorists at a flat (L-18) located in a crowded and predominantly Muslim neighbourhood called Batla House in South Delhi. The incident, which occurred on the morning of 19 September, 2008, followed a series of blasts that had ripped through Delhi on 13 September. The encounter left Inspector MC Sharma and two alleged terrorists dead. One of the occupants of the flat, Saif, surrendered and wasn’t charged in the case. Shahzad, 24, is from Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and is also an accused in the 2008 Delhi serial blasts case.