Nine acquittals: How dreaded gangster has been evading law
FARIDKOT: The brutal murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala at the behest of “key conspirator” Lawrence Bishnoi has again put a question mark on India’s law enforcement and criminal justice system.
A dreaded gangster, who has at least three dozen cases of murder, attempt to murder and extortion registered against him, has been running the operations from behind the bars while benefiting from his “fear” among the people to evade the law in multiple cases, shows a perusal of records of court proceedings and ongoing investigations against him.
After shifting to Chandigarh from a sleepy border village of Fazilka for higher education more than a decade ago, Bishnoi got into student politics. The first case was registered against him for attempt to murder in 2010, when he was just 19 years old. Initial cases registered in Chandigarh and Mohali were the outcome of student politics, but it laid the foundation for his entry into the world of crime.
Out of the 36 cases registered against him in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, New Delhi and Chandigarh, Bishnoi was acquitted in nine, including four of attempt to murder, due to lack of evidence or witnesses turning hostile. While 15 cases, including four of murder, are under investigation, trial is pending in five cases, including
in cases registered in 2010 and 2011.
‘Lack of evidence’
The judgment orders on granting acquittal to Bishnoi state that the “prosecution failed to prove its case” and the benefit of doubt is granted to the gangster due to “lack of evidence”. In a case of an attempt to murder, a Fazilka court had said that the eyewitness did not support the prosecution and failed to identify the accused.
In six cases in which Bishnoi has been convicted, he was found guilty of attempt to murder in two, only because cops were the witnesses. Both the cases were registered in Rajasthan for opening fire on police in 2014 and he was sentenced to fiveyear imprisonment in 2019.
In another case registered in Chandigarh in 2012, court had dropped the attempt to murder charge, claiming the prosecution failed to prove it, while convicted the gangster under less severe sections. The other three were NDPS or Arms Act cases.
A lawyer, who appeared against Bishnoi, said that independent witnesses do not come forward and even the eyewitnesses turn hostile in court after getting threats.