A Calcutta high court division bench on Wednesday upheld the judgment passed by the city sessions’ court pronouncing five policemen guilty of killing traffic sergeant Bapi Sen and sentencing them to life imprisonment.

“This court rejects the appeal moved by the convicts,” the division bench of Justice A.K. Talukdar and Justice R.N. Ray said in their judgment after “upholding” the trial court verdict.

On the night of December 31, 2002, Bapi Sen, 32, a sergeant with the Tollygunge traffic guard, was brutally assaulted on the tram tracks near Hind cinema by five constables of the reserve force for allegedly protesting the lewd comments passed by them at a young girl, riding pillion on a motorcycle.

Bapi slipped into coma and died five days later, leaving behind his wife and two sons.

The five accused — Sridam Bauri, Madhusudan Chakraborty, Pijush Goswami, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Shekhar Mitra — were arrested and tried before the city sessions’ court. Judge Madhusudan Majumdar, on January 30, 2005, held the accused guilty of murdering Bapi Sen.

The woman, for whom Bapi sacrificed his life, never came forward to lodge a complaint. The driver and helper of the taxi, in which Bapi and four of his friends were travelling that night, refused to make any deposition before the court. “We did not notice any scuffle between Bapi and the accused,” they stated

In its judgment, the high court bench said: “It was a very difficult case to investigate. The woman, who should have been the main witness, and the motorcyclist with whom she was, did not come forward to lodge a complaint or testify in court. Also, criminal proceedings should be initiated against the taxi driver, Madhukant Jha, and his helper, Mewalal Gupta, for lying before the court.”

The bench applauded the job done by the two investigating officers, R. Mondal and Atanu Banerjee.

“Justice has prevailed,” said public prosecutor Ashimesh Goswami. His rival lawyers in the case said they would move the apex court.