Phoolan Devi murder: Sher Singh Rana gets life imprisonment

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday awarded life imprisonment to Sher Singh Rana in 2001 bandit-turned-politician Phoolan Devi murder case. 

While delivering the judgement, Additional Sessions Judge Bharat Parashar imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on Rana.“For offence under Section 302/34 IPC, I award you life term and Rs 50,000 fine… For offence under Section 307, I award you life term with a fine of Rs 50,000,” the judge said, adding that if Rana failed to deposit the penalty imposed on him, he will have to undergo six months imprisonment each in default. 

As soon as the judge pronounced the verdict, some family members of Rana and his supporters were in tears.

The Additional Sessions Judge Bharat Parashar had reserved the judgement till August 14, after hearing the arguments on quantum of sentence during which the prosecution contended that Rana had committed Phoolan’s murder in a pre-planned and meticulous manner. 

The prosecution had said that Rana should be given death penalty for the heinous crime as a person like him is a threat to the society, reports stated. 

On August 08, the court convicted Rana, who gunned down Phoolan Devi, to allegedly avenging the 1981 Behmai massacre in which she killed 17 people of the Thakur community. 

The court convicted Rana on charges of murder and attempt to murder with common intention. However, he was acquitted of charges relating to criminal conspiracy and under the Arms Act. 

At the time of her murder, Phoolan Devi, whose dramatic life inspired many books and an internationally acclaimed movie “Bandit Queen”, was a Samajwadi Party parliamentarian from Mirzapur constituency in Uttar Pradesh. 

Phoolan Devi was shot dead July 25, 2001, outside her residence at Ashoka Road by Rana and his associates, police said. 

At the time of her murder, Phoolan Devi, whose dramatic life inspired many books and an internationally acclaimed movie “Bandit Queen”, was a Samajwadi Party parliamentarian from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. 

Besides Rana, there were 11 other accused in the case. One of them, Pradeep, died of a heart attack in Tihar Jail Nov 2013 and the rest were let off. Rana was arrested July 27, 2001. 

However, in 2004, he fled from the high security Tihar Jail. In 2006, he was arrested in Kolkata, brought back to Delhi and lodged again in Tihar Jail.