Fresh pleas filed in SC for probe into encounter killings of Vikas Dubey, associates

If entire episode was not a ploy to save a selected few, petitioner asks

Fresh pleas have been filed in the Supreme Court for a CBI, or NIA or court monitored investigation to ascertain role of police-criminal-politicians nexus into killings of eight policemen on July 2 and all other deaths including that of Vikas Dubey and his gang members till July 10.

A Supreme Court advocate, Anoop Prakash Awasthi, contended the Rule of law cannot be restored by actions of state machinery as outlaw. He contended that if trigger-happy attitude of cops was not put under check, it will lead to anarchy. He pointed out life can be taken only by a procedure established by law as guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution.

Terming the encounters killings of six persons allegedly involve in Kanpur incident of July 2 as suspicious in nature, Awasthi said revenge cannot replace justice howsoever grave and instigating the crime may be.

He also raised a question if instant justice delivered by police was permissible in a democratic society governed by rule of law bypassing the criminal justice system. Or if the entire episode was not a ploy to save a selected few by demolishing house of Vikas Dubey and eliminating him and his co-accused and thus closing all chances of breaking vicious nexus of police-criminal-politicians.

In a related development, PUCL also filed a plea in the top court seeking an SIT probe into encounter of Dubey and his aides by Uttar Pradesh police. It asked the court to constitute a committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to enquire into the encounters that have been taking place in Uttar Pradesh and the criminal political nexus, prevailing in the state.

The organisation, which had earlier questioned encounters in the state between January 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018, contended that police encounter or administrative liquidation was a serious crime, an offence against the entire society.

"The incidents, which have been revealed in the killings of the Dubey and his associates, are very shocking in particular, keeping in view continuous cases of mass encounters in the state from January 1, 2017 onwards," it said.

Meanwhile, a Mumbai advocate, Atal Bihari Dubey wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of India for taking Suo Motu cognisance of the matter to order an inquiry into the entire episode.

Advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay who had earlier apprehended encounter killing of Dubey, asked the Supreme Court to urgently list his plea filed on July 10.

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