Court stays ex-IG Zahoor Haider Zaidi's life sentence in custodial torture case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the life sentence awarded to Zahoor Haider Zaidi, a former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, who was posted as the Inspector General of Police, in Himachal Pradesh, and was heading a Special Investigation Team in the custodial death case linked to the 2017 Gudiya rape and murder.

The case pertains to the 2017 Gudiya rape and murder in Kotkhai, Shimla, where Suraj, an accused in the case, died in police custody allegedly due to custodial torture at the Kotkhai police station. The trial was transferred from Shimla to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Chandigarh on the orders of the Supreme Court.

Earlier this year in January, the special CBI court in Chandigarh sentenced Zaidi and others, including seven other police officers, to life imprisonment in the custodial death case. Zaidi later moved the High Court challenging his conviction and sentencing in the case.

Granting relief to Zaidi on his plea challenging conviction and seeking suspension of his sentence in the case, a bench comprising Justice Anoop Chitkara and Justice Sukhvinder Kaur said that his sentence in the case will remain suspended till the final disposal of his appeal against the trial court verdict.

The counsel representing Zaidi argued before the High Court that he was not present at the police station when the custodial death had occurred, and he was on a pre-sanctioned leave to perform the rituals of his deceased father. The counsel further argued that he has already been in custody for more than five years, and considering many pending appeals, there is no likelihood of the appeal being decided in the near future.

The CBI, however, opposed Zaidi's submissions for a stay on his sentence and argued that instead of suspending his sentence, the appeal itself be heard.

The High Court, after hearing submissions, noted that the statement of a co-accused is inadmissible unless made within the exceptions to the Indian Evidence Act and observed that the same is lacking in the present case. It also noted that there was no motive for Zaidi to have caused the death of Suraj in police custody.

"Thus, in the entirety of these prima facie analyses coupled with the period of custody already undergone, which is more than 05 years, the applicant is entitled to suspension of sentence," the High Court said while making it clear that the observations made while granting the relief are only for the purpose of deciding the suspension of sentence application, and it shall not be construed as an expression of opinion at the time of deciding the final appeal.

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