SC to examine plea on UP encounters

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 14

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a PIL by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), seeking a court-monitored CBI probe or a special investigating team (SIT) to look into police encounters in Uttar Pradesh.

After a perusal of the material on record, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said issues raised in the petition needed “serious consideration” and posted the matter for further hearing on February 12.

On behalf of Uttar Pradesh, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi contested the PIL, saying all norms and procedures were followed by the state police. Earlier, the apex court had sought a response from the state government on the PIL filed by the NGO, alleging in about 1,100 encounters in 2017, 49 persons were killed and 370 injured.

The NGO, in its plea filed last year, referred to news reports quoting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya and ADG (Law and Order) Anand Kumar, justifying killings of criminals in encounters. It sought a probe by an independent agency —- the CBI or a SIT comprising police officers of “integrity and who have not served in the state of Uttar Pradesh”.

Quoting the figure provided by the state to the NHRC, it said 45 persons had died between January 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018. The petition demanded compensation to the victims’ families and monitoring of the probe by a committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge.

“The monitoring committee should also inquire into the role played by all authorities or persons who directly or indirectly supported the encounter killings by abdicating their legal duties/responsibilities,” the petition read. “Each such encounter is required to be investigated on the basis of FIR, followed by a magisterial Inquiry and thereafter a criminal trial in accordance with law.

“But since the state agency in charge of law and order and crime investigating machinery by its conduct showed its sympathy to the alleged police encounters, they have lost credibility and are incapable of conducting a free and fair investigation,” it alleged.