Holding that no credence can be given to retraction of a confession six months after it was originally recorded, the Delhi High Court has refused to reduce the life imprisonment imposed on two Prevention of Terrorism Act convicts by the designated court.
A division bench comprising Justice Manmohan Sarin and Justice Manju Goel also refused to believe the plea of the two convicts that the investigating authorities had planted a sum of Rs seven lakh in their possession to falsely implicate them in the conspiracy.
The appellants Mohd Ayub Mir, an operative of the banned Lashker-e-Tayiba along with one Harbans Singh, who allegedly helped him with hawala money were both convicted in July, 2002, by a designated court to undergo life imprisonment for committing offences under the POTA.
The convictions were based on the confessions recorded by the DCP Special Branch and subsequently confirmed before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. However, the accused filed an appeal before the High Court claiming that police had implicated them in the case by planting money in their possession and also disputed the confessional statements recorded by the investigators.
But the bench felt that there was no basis for giving credence to the claims of the accused as the testimony pertaining to the seizure of the hawala money made by a private individual Tejinder Singh matched with that of the prosecution and other evidence gathered in the case.
Harbans Singh's counsel Harjinder Singh claimed that the former had retracted his confession through a letter purportedly written on January 30, 2003, after the charges were framed. Noting that there were no such documents with the trial court, the bench observed, "Even if such a retraction is now being set up we can attach no importance to the same since the confession was confirmed before the CMM on July 8, 2002, and no credit can be given to the retraction done six months thereafter."
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