The Uttar Pradesh government termed police encounters as “self-defence action” which are subject to fair and impartial investigation with nothing for the State to hide.
A 286-page status report filed by the State government in the Supreme Court said it leaves “no stone unturned” in its enquiries into the actions of its police.
“There is regular monitoring of police self-defence action in which accused persons have died. In all the police encounter incidents that have taken place since 2017, details related to the killed criminals and the results of the investigation/enquiry are collected and scrutinised every month at the police headquarters level… sweeping allegations against the State made therein are completely false and unjustified,” the Additional Director-General of the UP Special Task Force assured on behalf of the State.
The status report was filed in a petition filed by Aisha Noori, the sister of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad, who was shot dead by men posing as journalists while the police was escorting him to a hospital for medical check-up. Ms. Noori claimed the Uttar Pradesh government and the State police were responsible for killing her two brothers and a nephew in the span of a few days in April. The apex court had asked the State to respond to her allegations about its “campaign of extrajudicial killings”.
The State, in the report, said the zonal Additional Director-General of Police and Police Commissioner concerned where the encounter took place are directly involved in the “legal disposal of investigation of cases” registered in connection with police encounter incidents.
Regular review is done at the police-headquarter level regarding investigation/magisterial enquiries of cases registered in relation to criminals killed in the actions taken by police in self-defence and ongoing enquiries by the National Human Rights Commission.
The Office of State Crime Records Bureau, Uttar Pradesh Lucknow, while monitoring the incidents related to deaths in police encounters, sends information about all the incidents to the National Human Rights Commission every six months.
A separate record is maintained in the police station management handbook on raids conducted by the police.
The State said a five-member Judicial Commission of Inquiry under the chairmanship of former Allahabad Chief Justice D.B. Bhonsle is looking into Ahmed’s killing. So far, the commission had held 23 sittings, during which it had examined 85 witnesses.
The commission is also examining ways to prevent such incidents in the future, and to this end, has invited suggestions from the public, media, government and other organisations, including universities and other educational institutions. It has also sought the views of the Press Council of India and the TRAI.
It is scheduled to meet next on October 8, the government said.
