'He Was Trained To Defend Country, Not Mercilessly Butcher Citizens': Court Awards Death Sentence To Former Army Man For Murdering Six In Haryana

A former Army Officer has been sentenced to death by an Additional Sessions Court in Haryana's Palwal for murdering six people in 2018.

The convict, Naresh Dhankar, was found guilty and convicted under Sections 302, 307, 332, 353, and 186 of the Indian Penal Code. Dhankar brutally killed six people in one night, using an iron pipe to repeatedly inflict blows that resulted in fatal injuries.

While awarding death sentence to the convict, Additional Sessions Judge Prashant Rana said:

"The convict was a trained army officer who was trained at the expense of the public exchequer. He was trained to defend the country and its citizens and not to mercilessly butcher them. The convict was trained in Ghatak platoon of Army. A Ghatak Platoon, or Ghatak Commandos, is a special platoon that is present in every infantry battalion in the Indian Army. Ghatak is a Sanskrit word meaning "killer" or "lethal". They act as shock troops and spearhead assaults, ahead of the battalion. Thus, convict had received Commando training in this special wing of Army. However, the convict used the said training on innocent and helpless civilians."

The court held the case to be of ‘rarest of rare category’ and said "the ends of Justice would only be met by the death penalty and anything less than death penalty would be unjustified”.

It convicted the accused for the murders of six victims: Anjum, Subhash, Sita Ram, Munshi Ram, Khemchand, and Surender under Section 302 of IPC.

Additionally, the accused had attempted to kill six police officers: ASI Rajesh, Sub-Inspector Mohammad Illiyas, HC Sandeep, ASI Ramdiya, Constable Lukman, and SPO Har Parshad, and in this respect, he was convicted under Section 307 of IPC.

The court also concluded that the accused also obstructed the official duties of the police officers, caused them harm with the intention of preventing them from discharging their duties, and used criminal force in the process. 

"Hence, accused Naresh Dhankar is hereby convicted for commission of offences punishable under Sections 302, 307, 332, 353, 186 of IPC," it said.

Brief Facts 

On the intervening night of January 1 and 2 in 2018, within a radius of approximately 500 meters in Palwal City, six individuals were brutally murdered in an identical manner. The victims were repeatedly struck on the head with a blunt weapon, resulting in the crushing of their skulls and missing brain tissue.

The guilt of the convict was established beyond a reasonable doubt through various pieces of evidence, the court said in the verdict. 

The forensic report of blood stains on the clothes of all six victims and the weapon, circumstantial evidence, eyewitness accounts, CCTV recordings, and the location of the convict at the time of the murders, which was confirmed by his mobile phone records, all pointed towards his guilt, as per the verdict.

Striking Similarity Test

The Scientific expert in his report, immediately after inspecting the six murder scenes, said "the murders were strikingly identical and possibility of serial killer is there."

The Court referred to several cases, including Makin Vs. Attorney General of New South Wales [1894] AC 57 at 65, and Chandrakant Jha vs State (Delhi), Criminal Appeal No. 216/2015.

Based on these references, the court concluded that the repeated assaults on the skull of the first victim, Anjum, with an iron pipe provided strong evidence that the same modus operandi was used in the subsequent five murders that occurred in the same vicinity. This gave rise to a strong presumption against the accused that all the murders were committed by him, with the same intention and modus operandi. The court determined that the similarity between the murders was not a coincidence or accident, but rather intentional.

Rejection of Defence of Insanity

On the point of defence of Insanity argued by the convict, the court said that the plea of insanity has been taken in a very shady manner and as a last resort because the accused knows that there is sufficient evidence to connect him with the offences.

"He has not stated that he committed the murders under insanity. He has stated that somebody else committed the murders and he has been falsely booked as he was an insane person. However, if the Court finds him guilty he may be given the defence of insanity and acquitted,” said the court.

As per Section 84 of IPC, It is well settled law that whenever a plea of insanity is taken, it is the duty of the Court to consider all the circumstances and ensure that the accused is not punished, if he was of unsound mind when the occurrence took place, the court explained. 

The court further explained that the defence of insanity is based on M Naughton's case (1843) 4 St. Tr. (NS) 847. It is also well settled law that the accused is to prove that he was of unsound mind, at the time of incident as held in Sudhakaran vs State Of Kerala, (2010) 10 Supreme Court Cases 582(SC), it noted.

The judge said that the accused had been unable to provide evidence to support the claim that he was insane at the time of the incident.

It was only established that the accused had suffered from psychosis in 2001, as evidenced by his discharge report from the Army (Ex.PW6/AB). However, he was subsequently deemed to be medico-legally fit and joined the government service as an SDO in the Agriculture Department of Haryana.

"Even otherwise, the accused has been regularly doing his job for last 12 years and there is no document on record that he was insane at any point of time. Also, as discussed above bi-polar psychosis does not amount to insanity. The same is a mental condition of phases of depression excitement," the court said.

The court also noted that as per GBD India Mental Disorders Paper, issued by Indian Council of Medical Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in December 2019, 197.3 million Indians are suffering from mental issues on account of frustration, depression, anxiety, stress, sleeplessness, over-eating, psychosis and aggression etc.

"Out of the same 77 lacs people are suffering from psychosis, as the accused is told to be suffering. Exculpating the accused, on account of the said psychiatric treatment, 77 lacs people in India would be given a licence to kill on account of insanity and a much large number on account of depression etc. disorder. In fact, these are common disorders and they cannot be termed as insanity," said the court.

Rarest Of The Rare Case - Death Penalty

Rejecting the defence  that the convict did not know the victims earlier and he has been an honest Army Officer and Government Servant, the court quoted Albert Camus (French author, philosopher and Nobel Laureate, 1913-1960):

“No cause justifies the deaths of innocent people.”

Referring to Machhi Singh And Others vs State Of Punjab 1983 AIR 957(SC), the court said that the extreme punishment of death sentence is given only in cases of extreme culpability, and after considering the circumstances of the convict. 

"Also it is to be kept in mind that the death sentence is given in the rarest of the rare cases. Life imprisonment is the rule and the death penalty is an exception," the court added.

Considering the case from the parameters laid down in Machi Singh’s case, the court said:

"The manner of commission of the murders was extremely diabolical, brutal, grotesque and revolting, so as to arouse, extreme indignation of the community. The crime was enormous in nature as the convict committed 6 murders within a vicinity of 500 meters and within a span of 2-3 hours."

The court also referred to the case of Dhananjoy Chaterjee Vs State Of W.B. 1994 (2) SCC 220 in which Apex Court has observed that “the measure of punishment in a given case must depend upon the atrocity of the crime; the conduct of the criminal and the defenceless and unprotected state of the victim.”

ASJ Rana also observed:

“The society has to give an answer to those family members (of deceased victims), who do not know till date, as to why their loved ones were snatched away in such barbaric manner by a so called Psycho Killer. They would ask a question from this society - ‘Will You adequately punish our offender or will You keep quiet in the name of reformation?”

The court said granting of life imprisonment to the convict would be inadequate, "in view of the discussion above and precedents law laid down by The Supreme Court of India.” Consequently, the accused Naresh Dankar was sentenced to death for offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC, for commission of murders of six victims. 

"He shall be hanged by neck till he is dead, subject to the confirmation of the sentence by The Hon'ble High Court of Punjab and Haryana, Chandigarh," said the court.

Recommendation For Gallantry Award To Police Officers

While quoting from Talmud, the holy scripture of Jews: “Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire”, the court made a recommendation to the Director General of Police, Haryana, for granting gallantry award to Police Officers who were involved in this case as they risked their life, showed exemplary courage and presence of mind.

Dinesh Ambavta, Public Prosecutor was assisted by Ran Singh, Advocate, Legal Aid Counsel, for Complainant.

Naresh Dhankar was represented by advocate K.K. Gupta.

Case Title- State v. Naresh Dhankar

Sessions Case Number- 25 of 25.04.2018.

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