A Delhi Court on Monday acquitted two men who were accused of hijacking, New Delhi-Srinagar Air India flight and forcing it to land in Pakistan in 1981. Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Ajay Pandey granted relief to Tajinder Pal Singh and Satnam Singh.
The two had allegedly hijacked an Air India plane from New Delhi enroute to Srinagar via Amritsar and forced it to land in lahore, Pakistan on 29 September 1981, where they were
arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. After serving a life-term for hijacking both were deported to India in year 2000.
They had later sought their discharge from the case but a sessions court had dismissed their plea. The Delhi high court had also dismissed their plea seeking stay on the session court order and asked the trial court to proceed with the matter.
Both were granted bail in July last year. In 2011, the Delhi Police had chargesheeted them under various sections 121 (waging war against the Government of India),
121A (conspiring to commit certain offenses against the state), 124A (sedition) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). “The accused have already been convicted by a competent court in Pakistan for the hijacking of the Indian airplane.
Neither any chargesheet has been filed for those offences against them nor any charge framed.
No sanction for prosecution of those offences was granted by the competent authority,” said the court.
“Hence, in the absence of identification and description of specific role of each accused by the witnesses, this court is of the opinion that prosecution has miserably failed to prove the charge under Sections 121 or 121A of the IPC against either of the accused,” said the court.