The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the defence of a soldier accused of dowry murder that he has been a Black Cat commando for 20 years and had taken part in Operation Sindoor, saying it “does not give him immunity from committing atrocity at home”.
The court directed Baljinder Singh, who claimed he is part of the NSG, to surrender within two weeks.
A bench of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice K. Vinod Chandran, however, admitted the special leave petition filed by Singh challenging the concurrent findings of an Amritsar trial court and Punjab and Haryana High Court holding him guilty of the murder of his wife.
Singh was earlier convicted and sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment in 2004 by a sessions court for strangling his wife two years into their marriage. His appeal against the conviction and sentence was recently dismissed by the high court, which asked him to surrender immediately and serve the sentence.
Sensing that the Supreme Court bench was not inclined to interfere with the high court order during Tuesday’s hearing, Singh’s lawyer sought to sway the judges by pointing out that his client has been a Black Cat commando for two decades and had participated in Operation Sindoor against Pakistan.
“I had participated in Operation Sindoor, and for the last 20 years I have been a Black Cat commando,” the counsel said, prompting Justice Bhuyan, heading the bench, to retort: “But that does not give you any immunity from committing atrocity at home.”
The judge added: “That only shows how physically fit you are and how you alone could have killed your wife.”
The court made the oral observations while referring to the findings recorded by the sessions court and the high court while sentencing him.
The bench issued a formal notice to the state of Punjab on Singh’s appeal and posted the matter for further hearing to July 29.
Although the lawyer appearing for Singh claimed that the convict was a Black Cat commando, there is no independent source to authenticate this. The NSG appoints commandos only after a rigorous background check and keeps constant updates on their antecedents.
It is unclear how Singh could have continued to be an NSG commando after his 2004 conviction. The NSG provides round-the-clock security to VVIPs, including the Prime Minister, and also participates in critical combat operations.
Further, in terms of Central Civil Service rules, a civil servant kept in custody for more than 48 hours automatically gets suspended.