New Delhi, May 2 Former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Ashok Kumar Aggarwal has moved a Delhi court challenging a three-month jail term awarded to two CBI officers, including the agency's Joint Director Ramneesh, in an assault and trespass case, seeking enhancement of sentence and higher compensation.
Aggarwal has filed an appeal in the Sessions Court, contending that the punishment awarded by the trial court is grossly inadequate considering the gravity of the offence and seeking a compensation amount of Rs 1 crore.
"Inadequacy of sentence, this is not an ordinary case, it is a case of premeditated abuse of state power by senior law enforcement officers," the appeal reads.
On April 28, Judicial Magistrate Shashank Nandan Bhatt sentenced retired police officer V K Pandey and Ramneesh to three months' imprisonment after convicting them under Indian Penal Code sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 427 (mischief) and 448 (house trespass). The court said the convicts had acted in "sheer violation of their legal powers as public servants".
The case pertained to a raid conducted on October 19, 2000, when a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team entered Aggarwal's residence in the early hours and arrested him. The trial court had held both officers guilty of assault, trespass and causing damage during the operation.
In his appeal, Aggarwal has urged the sessions court to award the maximum permissible punishment under the relevant penal provisions and direct that the sentences run consecutively.
"The learned trial court and the courts above have consistently found this to be a carefully-planned, premeditated conspiracy by senior CBI officers to weaponise state machinery against an honest public servant. Ground deserves the most serious consideration of this Hon'ble court," the appeal says.
It has also contended that Ramneesh is a serving joint director of the federal agency and the sentence must reflect his institutional gravity.
"The sentence must send an unequivocal message to every officer in every law enforcement agency in the country that abuse of official power will be met with the full force of the law, irrespective of the rank, position or institutional seniority of the offender," it says.
Aggarwal has also sought compensation, alleging illegal arrest, custodial violence and prolonged hardship caused by the over-two-decade-long litigation.
"The 26-year wait for justice by the appellant must be acknowledged by this Hon'ble court through the award of a sentence that is not merely symbolic but reflects the true gravity of this crime and the magnitude of suffering," the appeal says.
The appeal is scheduled to be taken up for hearing on June 2.
