Batla House encounter case: Ariz Khan sentenced to death

Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav also imposed a total fine of Rs 11 lakh against Ariz in the case

A Delhi court on Monday awarded death penalty to convict Ariz Khan alias Junaid in 2008 Batla House encounter case, in which Delhi police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma was martyred within days after a series of bomb blasts rocked the national capital and several places across the country.

Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav termed the case as the rarest of rare as Additional Public Prosecutor A T Ansari sought capital punishment for the convict on the ground that the incident shocked the conscience of society.

"The abhorrent and brutal act of the convict in firing on police without any provocation shows that he is not only threat to the society but is an enemy of the state," the court said.

The convict had absconded from the Batla House during the raid by the Delhi police special cell on September 19, 2008. The sleuths were acting on information that the suspected Indian Mujahideen operatives involved in the serial bomb blasts at Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and other places were holed up over there. In the shootout, two alleged terrorists were killed and one AK-47 and two pistols were recovered from the place at Jamia Nagar.

Advocate M S Khan for the convict sought lenient view in the matter saying that the crime was not premeditated and the incident happened all of a sudden. It was committed without any planning or conspiracy, he said.

Ariz was declared proclaimed offender in 2009 and was arrested in 2018. He was held guilty in the case on March 8.

The court, which recently convicted him, also ordered him to pay a fine of Rs 11 lakh, of which Rs 10 lakh would be paid to deceased Sharma's family members, saying "monetary compensation would provide some solace and apply balm to the wounds of the family".

Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh had then termed the Batla House encounter as 'fake'. However, the Congress party had distanced itself from the remark.