Police demand death penalty for Shahzad

After hearing the arguments of the police and the defence counsel on Monday on the quantum of sentence for 2008 Batla House encounter convict Shahzad Ahmed, the court reserved its order for Tuesday afternoon.

The Delhi Police sought the death penalty for Shahzad on Monday, arguing that the case falls under the “rarest of the rare category”. However, the defence counsels stated that the case does not fall under this category, and pleaded for leniency.   

Special public prosecutor Satwinder Kaur, citing the Supreme Court verdict in the Ajmal Kasab case, pointed out that this case has also shocked the collective conscience of society, and urged the court to award the death penalty.

“There are no mitigating circumstances in this case, and the convict is involved in several heinous crimes. During the encounter, one senior police officer was killed and two other officers were injured while performing their duties. Shahzad was the one who had pulled trigger targeting the policemen,” she said.

But defence counsel Satish Tamta opposed the move, saying that the crime was committed on the spur of the moment and was not planned, and the convict should be given a chance to reform himself considering his young age — 24.