Encounter of Atiq Ahmed’s son Asad: What the Human Rights Commission has to say

Atiq Ahmed’s son Asad The NHRC and the Supreme Court have laid down guidelines on the killings, which are termed as ‘encounters’. Here they say.

  Politician-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed’s son Asad and his accomplice Ghulam were both involved in the Umesh Pal murder case. He was killed in an encounter in Jhansi on Thursday.

These extra-judicial killings, popularly known as “encounters”, have been dealt with by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and later, by the Supreme Court, with appropriate directions to prevent any abuse of power by the law enforcement agencies. Followed  instructions and procedures.

In what charges was Asad involved?

Atiq Ahmed’s son Asad Umesh Pal, an alleged kidnapper involved, was shot dead along with two of his policemen in Prayagraj on February 24. Umesh Raju was an eyewitness in the Pal murder case, in which Ahmed is a prime accused.

NHRC said?

Former CJI Justice MN  Venkatachaliah wrote to all chief ministers in March 1997 saying that the NHRC was receiving complaints from the general public and NGOs that incidents of fake encounters by the police were on the rise, in which the police kill the accused Under our laws, the police have not been given any right to end the life of any other person. and if the policeman by his act kills any person, he commits the offense of culpable homicide.

The NHRC asked all states and union territories to ensure that the police follow the directions in all those cases. Where  the death occurred in a police encounter. These include recording all information received about encounter deaths in an “appropriate register” and provision for investigation by independent agencies such as the state CID.

Information received shall be considered sufficient for suspicion of a federal offense and immediate steps should be taken to investigate the facts and circumstances so as to determine what, if any, offense was committed and by whom.

The guidelines also stated that compensation may be considered for the dependents of the deceased where the police officers found guilty may be prosecuted after investigation.

These were amended in 2010 by the NHRC under the then Chief Justice GP Mathur to include provisions for registration of FIRs, magisterial inquiry and reporting of all death cases to the NHRC by a senior superintendent of police or superintendent of police of the district within 48 Were. Such death hour

Three months after the encounter, a second report should be sent to the NHRC, which should include the postmortem report, the investigation report and the findings of the investigation.

What has the Supreme Court said on “encounter”?

  A bench of RM Lodha the then CJI and Rohinton   Fail Nariman issued detailed guidelines containing sixteen points to be followed in the investigation of police encounters in death cases as standard procedure for a thorough, effective and independent investigation. Were.

The guidelines came in the case of People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. State of Maharashtra and also included provisions for magisterial inquiry along with registration of First Information Reports (FIRs), keeping of written records of intelligence inputs and independent investigation by bodies was involved. such as CID.

There should have been a mandatory magisterial inquiry in all cases of death during police action. In such inquest the near relative of the deceased should invariably be associated. In every case when a complaint  is made against the police alleging criminal acts on their part. Murder becomes a cognizable case, which should be registered under appropriate sections of the IPC, said the court in its judgment under section 176 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Such an inquiry is to determine whether the use of force was justified and the action taken was lawful.

The court said that after such inquiry, a report should be sent to the Judicial Magistrate having jurisdiction under Section 190 of the Code.

The rest of the guidelines also state that whenever the police receive any intelligence or tip-off on criminal activities or activities relating to serious criminal offences, “it should be recorded in some form (preferably in a case diary) or in an electronic form”. shall be reduced accordingly.

 Should be sent to the court under

It also lists provisions for an independent inquiry into the encounter which “shall be conducted by a police team of the CID or any other police station under the supervision of a senior officer.

With this, the court directed that these “requirements/norms” should be strictly followed in all cases of death and grievous injury in police encounters, treating them as the law declared under Article 141 of the Constitution of India.

Which is the recent case in which action has been taken against the police?

The Supreme Court in December 2019 ordered an independent probe headed by former SC judge VN Sirpurkar into the four accused in the gang rape and murder of a 26-year-old veterinarian in Hyderabad by  the police The Telangana police had claimed that the accused were shot when they tried to snatch weapons from the police while trying to escape. In May 2022, the commission booked 10 policemen for murder, terming the encounter as fake and directed registration of an FIR against the police personnel.