The Supreme Court questioned the Uttar Pradesh government on Friday why politician-gangster Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf paraded before the media as they were taken to hospital for a medical check-up in police custody in Prayagraj.
The high court, which was hearing a statement by lawyer Vishal Tiwari seeking an independent investigation into the murder of Ahmad and his brother Ashraf, also asked the UP government how the killers found out they were being taken to hospital.
“How did they know? We’ve seen it on TV. Why didn’t they take them to the ambulance right from the front door of the hospital? Why did they parade?” a bench of judges S Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Datta asked senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi, who ran for the UP government.
Rohatgi informed the court that the state government is investigating the incident and has set up a three-member commission for it. A special investigation team from the UP Police is also looking into the matter, she said.
“This man and his entire family have been embroiled in heinous cases for the last 30 years. This particular incident is a horrific incident. We have arrested the killers and they said they did it to make a name for themselves,” Rohatgi said.
“Everyone watched the killings on TV. The killers came disguised as news photographers. They had passes, they carried cameras and even IDs that were later found to be fake. There were 50 people there and more people outside. That’s how they managed to kill ”, Rohatgi told the bench.
The court ordered the UP government to submit a situation report on the measures taken after the incident.
“A full affidavit will be submitted indicating the steps taken to investigate the deaths that occurred on April 15 near Moti Lal Nehru Divisional Hospital, Prayagraj. The affidavit will also disclose the steps taken in respect of the incident that occurred immediately prior to which in question and also disclose follow-up steps taken after Judge BS Chauhan’s commission report. List after three weeks,” the bank said in its order.
Former high court judge Justice Chauhan headed a commission to investigate gangster Vikas Dubey’s 2020 encounter.
Atiq Ahmad (60) and Ashraf were killed at point blank range by three men posing as journalists in the middle of an interaction with the media while being escorted to a medical college by police personnel.
The allegation also sought an investigation into the 183 suspected criminals killed in police encounters in UP since 2017. UP police recently said they have shot dead 183 suspected criminals in encounters in six years of the government led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and this included Ahmad’s son. Asad and his accomplice.
The petition called for the creation of a committee of independent experts to investigate the murder of Ahmad and Ashraf.
“Issuing guidelines/instructions to safeguard the rule of law by setting up a committee of independent experts under the chairmanship of a former Supreme Court judge to investigate the 183 encounters that have occurred since 2017, as stated by the Director General Uttar Pradesh Police Special (Law and Order) and also to investigate the murder in police custody of Atiq and Ashraf,” he said.
Referring to Ahmad’s murder, the statement said that “such actions by the police are a serious threat to democracy and the rule of law and lead to a police state.”
“In a democratic society, the police cannot be allowed to become a mode of delivering final justice or a sanctioning authority. The power to sanction rests only with the judiciary,” the plea presented.
He said that extrajudicial killings or fake police encounters have no place in the law.
When the police become “reckless, then the whole rule of law breaks down and creates fear in people’s minds against the police, which is very dangerous for democracy and this also translates into more crimes,” the allegation stated. .
(Only the headline and image in this report may have been modified by Business Standard staff; all other content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
