65-yr-old convict moves HC for nod to sue cops

New Delhi: A 65-year-old man who was prosecuted in 20 criminal cases, including of rape and murder, has moved to the Delhi high court challenging certain provisions of law, which limit the time period to file a case against police officials for committing an offence under the garb of discharging duty.

Prempal Singh who is a mason by profession, said 20 FIRs were registered against him in various offences, including murder, rape, drug charges and arms, and under the stringent Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Pre-vention) Act between 1991 and 2007.

Agreeing to examine Singh’s plea, who spent over six years in jail fighting the cases against him, the high court issued notice to the Centre and Delhi government, and so-ught their responses within six weeks.

A bench of Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and A.K. Chawla listed the matter for further hearing on No-vember 16.

Of these 20 cases, he was convicted in five. Besides him, 13 cases were lodged against his son and one against his wife, and both of them had to spend some time behind bars. Advo-cate Wills Mathews, who filed the plea on behalf of Singh, said due to financial constraints none of the three family members could file an appeal and they were branded as known criminals of Delhi resulting in isolation from the society.

Singh has challenged section-140 of the Delhi Police Act (DPA), which limits three months as the time period for filing a case against police officials who have allegedly committed offences under the garb of discharging their duty. The plea stated that Singh and his family got some relief when a trial court in 2004 acquitted him in the rape case, observing that he was framed in the case and tortured by police, converting him into a living corpse.