New Delhi, April 17.
Two PILs have been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a CBI probe into the recent killing of 5-time MLA from Uttar Pradesh Atiq Ahmed and his brother by unknown assailants while in police custody.
The PILs have claimed that the all too many staged police encounters in Uttar Pradesh were a threat to the Constitution and rule of law and sought a probe by a former top court judge into the 183 odd encounters in the state since 2017.
One petition was filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari and the other by petitioner in person Amitabh Thakur.
Atiq Ahmed, who was in jail for a while in connection with a murder of a witness in an older murder case, had even moved the top court seeking court protection.
He said that he feared for his life and wanted to depose through video conferencing in the case. This was disallowed by the court which said that the state machinery would protect him.
Ironically enough, he was killed by assailants in full media glare when he was being taken by police for a medical check-up. There was no attempt by police to defend Atiq Ahmed and his brother.
The assailants were later taken into custody.
The court has since received a letter PIL from Thakur seeking a CBI probe into the deaths.
Advocate Tiwari sought a CBI enquiry on the ground that this was becoming an all too frequent occurrence in the state. The police brutality was a violation of rule of law in the state, he said.
“Such highlighted actions are a severe threat to the democracy and rule of law, such acts are establishments of anarchy and prima facie development of police state. Extra judicial killings or fake police encounters have been very badly condemned under the law.”
“In a democratic society the police cannot be allowed to become a mode of delivering final justice or to become a punishing authority. The power of punishment is only vested in the judiciary. When police become daredevil rule of law collapses and generates the fear in the mind of the people against police which is very dangerous for the democracy and this also results into further crime.”
In this context, he cited the encounter killing of gangster Vikas Dubey on July 9. In all such encounters the vehicles in which the accused were being transported, either got punctured or met with an accident, he alleged.
“The story of police appears to be concocted, dramatic and false. The police version that accused tried to fled from custody, he opened fire by snatching firearm from police and then got killed in retaliation, this idea is very old….”
The results of a high-level probe is awaited, he said.
He also wondered how a few private assailants disguised as mediapersons killed and shot dead Atiq and Ashraf in front of the police personnel. It is a direct attack on Indian democracy and rule of law.
Later the assailants were arrested but during the crime no protection was offered to the deceased and there was no retaliation of any sort by police, he said. This proves that it was a pre-planned attack with no redressal for the victim, he said.
“Extra judicial killings, custodial killings, custodial deaths, fake encounters, do not solve the purpose but bring more violence. These crush the fundamental rights of citizens. No law permits revenge.
“If an accused has been caught, whatever heinous crime he has committed police has got no authority to kill him in revenge. Only judiciary has got power to give punishment as per to law.”
