The Sessions Judge of Imphal East, W Tonen Meitei, Wednesday acquitted all nine accused cops in the BT Road firing case of July 2009 citing lack of evidence. Those acquitted include prime suspect Th Herojit Singh, a head constable of the Manipur Police. The firing incident on BT Road claimed the lives of a pregnant woman, Rabina Devi, and Ch Sanjit Meitei, a former member of the proscribed People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of Manipur. Five persons were also injured in the incident. “Due to want of prosecution sanction under Section 197 CrPC and due to lack of certificate required under Section 65(4) of the Indian Evidence Act, all the accused persons are hereby acquitted from the case,” ruled the Sessions Judge. Ch Taratombi, the mother of Sanjit Meitei, had lodged a police complaint after a magazine published some photographs on August 8, 2009, claiming that Meitei was killed in an alleged fake encounter case. The defence argued Sanjit Meitei was killed in cross-firing. The Judge observed that the prosecution failed to prove the photographs published in the magazine were genuine by not producing the required certificate provided under Section 65B(4) of the Indian Evidence Act. “At the same time, the exhibits are photostat copies of the photographs published in the Tehelka magazine the same are not admissible under the law unless it is proved by producing primary evidence,” the judgment says. After much clamour followed by a series of protests across the state, the case was transferred to the CBI in January 2010. In 2015, the CBI submitted a charge sheet against the nine cops. In the CBI charge sheet, it was stated that the accused accosted Sanjit Meitei with their common intention to cause his death. They led him to the store room of a pharmacy under the command of then inspector H Devendra, where Herojit Singh shot the victim dead.
