The Allahabad High Court has cleared five Muslim men of all terror charges linked to the 2007 Rampur CRPF camp attack, ending an 18-year ordeal that saw four of them on death row. A Division Bench of Justices Sidharth Verma and Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra overturned every conviction for murder, UAPA violations, and waging war, ruling that the prosecution built its case on coached witnesses, missing identification records, and tampered evidence. The court kept only a minor Arms Act count for illegal weapon possession, a term already served.
The night of December 31, 2007, left eight people dead, yet the judges found no credible proof that Mohd. Sharif, Sabauddin, Imran Shahjad, Mohd. Farooq, or Jang Bahadur Khan fired a single shot. No Test Identification Parade was held. Witnesses who first said they did not know the attackers later named each accused in court. The Bench called this switch clear proof of tutoring. CRPF personnel also failed to recognise the men, and the court labelled their in-court identifications unreliable.
Forensic gaps proved fatal to the prosecution. Fingerprints went untraced for three months. Ballistic exhibits arrived at the forensic lab without seals or ledger entries. The court said the chain of custody was broken, rendering tests worthless. “Ninety-eight rounds were fired from the CRPF side, yet no assailant was injured,” the judges noted, calling the official story implausible.