CHANDIGARH: A local court on Thursday sentenced 17 people, including a former AAP councillor, to rigorous imprisonment of seven to ten years for attacking and pelting stones at an anti-encroachment team of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) in 2015.
Former AAP councillor Nisha Singh, is one of the convicts, who was pronounced guilty of instigating the mob. While 10 of them have been sentenced to seven years of imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000 each, seven of them have been given 10 years in jail and fined Rs 10,000 each. In case of default of payment, their sentences will be increased by two to three years, stated the order.
“No doubt, it is a serious lapse on the part of the accused to injure the public officers, there is no reason to believe that they cannot be reformed or rehabilitated and that they are likely to continue criminal acts of violence as would constitute a continuing threat to society,’’ the court said.
On May 15, 2015, Junior Engineer Rajpal and HUDA teams were getting debris removed after an anti-encroachment drive in Sector-47 Jhimar Basti. Advocate Khajan Singh, Pradeep Zaildar and Singh instigated a crowd to attack, according to the order.
The mob allegedly threw petrol bombs and LPG cylinders at the police teams. Duty magistrate and fifteen policemen were injured. The court said that the prosecution has successfully proved the allegations, except meeting the requirement of IPC section 307 (attempt to murder), resulting in all the accused being acquitted from the offence punishable under this section.