Justice delayed & denied for Man Singh
1952 till 1985 in Rajasthan.
While Man Singh was campaigning for the eighth term on February 20, 1985, Congress workers allegedly burned his election flags and banners and to further aggravate Man Singh, the then chief minister Shiv Charan Mathur decided to land his helicopter In Deeg for electioneering, despite having given a verbal assurance of not visiting Man Singh’s constituency.
Man Singh retaliated by driving his World War II vintage military vehicle into the helicopter to cause inconvenience to the CM, who would have to drive all the way to Jaipur. Thereafter, Man Singh continued with his election work.
On February 21, 1985, Man Singh learned that he had been charged under Section 307 of the IPC for damaging the helicopter and had decided to give himself up. When he was driving through the main town passing the Anaj Mandi ( Grain Market), the deputy superintendent of police Kan Singh Bhati, accompanied by a group of policemen, came up to Man Singh and told him that “he wished to speak to him”. Man Singh asked the DSP to let him park his vehicle to a side and as he began to do so, the police opened fire killing him and two of his supporters — Thakur Hari Singh and Thakur Sumer Singh who were sitting beside him.
This unprovoked killing in broad daylight, in a busy bustling market was termed by the police as an “encounter”. How could it be an encounter when Man Singh and his supporters were unarmed and all three who were killed were over the age of 60? Whether the firing by the police was hasty or planned, not only was it unjustified, it was an absolutely shocking mockery of law and order, or plain and simple state terrorism. The immediate effect of this incident making the headlines in the national and local newspapers and getting covered widely in leading magazines was that the chief minister resigned; the DSP was suspended; a judicial inquiry was ordered; the case handed over to the CBI, and on the orders of the Supreme Court the case was later transferred to the sessions Mathura.
After 30 years since the multiple murder, the case is still pending and has gone off the radar. Witnesses have died, memories have faded. Judges have come and gone as have public prosecutors, but the judgment is yet to come.
Given the popularity of Man Singh among the public which held him in high regard, a large crowd collected soon after he and his two supporters were shot dead. The police had to fire several shots in the air to disperse the crowd. Vijay Singh, son- in- law of Man Singh and a few others who were in the same vehicle, were arrested and released the next day.
On February 23, 1985, when Mr Vijay Singh went to file an FIR at the police station in Deeg where the incident took place, the police refused to file the FIR. He then filed the FIR in the office of SSP, Bharatpur. While a judicial inquiry was ordered, Rajasthan government shielded the accused Kan Singh Bhati and the police-
judge, men, by not giving permission to the CBI within 90 days or so, they were bailed out. The case was taken over by the CBI on March 2, 1985. The chargesheet was filed by the CBI in the Jaipur court in August, 1985. From 1985 to 1989, the accused effectively used delaying tactics. While the case was being heard in the lower court in Jaipur Kan Singh Bhati would approach the high court and managed to stall proceedings. A special leave petition was filed with the Supreme Court to move the case out of Rajasthan. The apex court passed the order in November 1989, and the case was transferred to the district sessions court Mathura.
The CBI filed the chargesheet on January 10, 1990. The charge was framed and the order passed by the district judge P. K. Jain on April 30, 1990. Between November 1990 and May 2005, the prosecution’s evidence involved 200 odd witnesses and five technical experts. In 2007 statements of the accused were taken. Defense witness were examined from February 2008 November 2008.
From November 2008 till August 2010 the accused Kan Singh Bhati kept using his delaying tactics. In September 2010, the final arguments by the prosecution and the defence were filed. Written arguments were filed by the prosecution in 2011. Since then till date the accused have again delayed their written arguments, which are still awaited. Since 1990 to date, 43 district session judges in Mathura have changed.
Meanwhile Kan Singh Bhati has started a Sahanubhuti fund. From 1990 till 2012 Kan Singh Bhati and party have been transported from Jaipur to Mathura in a government vehicle under police escort, at considerable expense to the exchequer.
All that the anguished next of kin and well- wishers of the late Man Singh and his supporters have been hoping and praying that some day within their life- span, justice will be done. Will the new government be able to hasten the case to its conclusion?
till