HT Archives: Ranga and Billa's death sentence confirmed for gruesome murders

A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India YV Chandrachud and comprising Justices Chinnappa Reddy and Bahrul Islam on December 8, 1980, dismissed an appeal by Jasbir Singh alias Billa (25) and Kuljit Singh alias Ranga ( 23 years), against their death sentence and their conviction for the kidnapping and murder of the Chopra teenagers.

On November 16, 1979, the Delhi High Court upheld the death sentences awarded by the magistrate court to Ranga and Billa for the murder of the Chopra children in August 1978. (HT Archives)

It was in August 1978 that Geeta and Sanjay, the children of Captain MM Chopra, who was serving at the Naval Headquarters in Delhi, hitched a ride with the killers, Billa and Ranga, near Dhaula Kuan, in a stolen car more early by the criminal duo. . Instead of being dropped off at All India Radio, where Geeta was meeting, the teenagers were kidnapped.

15-year-old Sanjay, who was fighting against the criminals, was stabbed to death. Geeta, 17, was criminally attacked before Ranga and Billa also stabbed her in a bush near the usually deserted Buddha Jayanti Park, straddling the Delhi Ridge. Their bodies were found three days later, on August 29. A nationwide manhunt has been launched for the killers. They were stopped by Army jawans while boarding at Agra, the military compartment of the Delhi-bound Howrah-Kalka Mail.

Sanjay and Geeta were the only children of their parents. Their murders, the motives of which have never been fully established, shook the conscience of the nation, casting a pall of sadness over the capital. According to the charges against them, Billa allegedly said he kidnapped the children for ransom.

On November 16, 1979, Justices VD Misra and FS Gill of the Delhi High Court, in a 128-page order, upheld the death sentences passed by the sessions court against Ranga and Billa for the murder of the Chopra children in August 1978.

Both judges said that with the elimination of the two convicts, society would be much better off and its security would no longer be in danger.

“Indeed, pronouncing any sentence other than the death penalty would amount to a total failure of justice,” the court observed.

RK Garg, appearing for Billa, told the Supreme Court that one cannot deny the heinous nature of the crime, but the court, with cold objectivity, should see whether there was a frame-up by the police, given the public storm that the crime raised. . The recovery of the car in which the two children were seduced by promising to drive them was important. But the fingerprints in the car in which the two children struggled to free themselves were also important.

Garg also asked why the police waited for the arrest of the accused before submitting the fingerprint report and why did they not immediately check the fingerprints from Mumbai where they were easily available. Without the fingerprint report, police revealed to newspapers that Billa and Ranga had committed the crime, Garg said. They spoke to the press about the rape of a young and unfortunate girl, but the police doctor’s report stated that no rape had taken place, Garg pointed out.

The trial court and the High Court, he said, ignored this medical report. Justice was needed and the public had the right to know how the police had accused Billa and Ranga of rape when their own doctor’s report denied such an event.

VJ Francis, representing Ranga, attempted to argue that Ranga’s sentence should be reduced to life imprisonment because on several occasions he had tried to persuade Billa to let the children go. He argued that the confessions made by the two convicts were illegal and could not form the basis of a conviction.

However, the CJI rejected all these arguments and said the High Court’s judgment was well reasoned. When Garg said the sentencing convictions would go to trial in the case, the chief justice retorted that this really would not be the case since professional killers were involved. There may have been no rape as the medical records show, but there is no doubt that the girl was treated very poorly by the two convicts.

The judgment said it was proven by the prosecution that the children were murdered at around 9:30 p.m. on August 26, 1978, with a sword and a kirpan which were later recovered by the police at the request of the accused.

The verdict ended one of the longest legal battles in a murder case, from the high court in September 1978 to the Supreme Court.