Court Sentences Former Police Officers to 20 Years for Faked Encounter

The Chandigarh CBI special court handed down a 20‑year jail term on each of the three accused police officers, along with a financial penalty, after a 32‑year legal battle. The judgment confirmed that the encounter in which Gurnaam Singh was killed was deliberately fabricated to boost the careers of the involved officers.

The verdict also highlighted systemic abuse of power during Punjab’s insurgency period, when police frequently staged lethal encounters under the pretext of counter‑terrorism. Legal experts noted that the case sets a precedent for revisiting other unresolved encounter incidents from the same era, offering hope to numerous families still awaiting accountability.