Badlapur accused encounter: Bombay High Court slams government for not registering FIR against cops despite order

A bench of Justices warned it would initiate criminal contempt proceedings against the Maharashtra government if its order was not complied with during the day.

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday slammed the Maharashtra government for not registering an First Information Report (FIR) against five policeman to launch a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged fake encounter of Akshay Shinde, the accused involved in the sexual assault of two minor girls in a pre-primary school in Badlapur in Thane district.

A division bench of the court comprising Justice Revati Mohite-Dere and Justice Dr Neela Gokhale said that it clearly amounts to criminal contempt of court.

On 7 April, the High Court had ordered an FIR and probe by an SIT headed by an officer of the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police will function under the supervision of Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Lakhmi Gautam, who heads the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police.

During the hearing, amicus curiae and senior counsel Manjula Rao informed the judges that despite orders to transfer the papers, nothing has been done yet.

Shinde (24), who was employed as a cleaner in the school, was arrested on 16 August for the sexual assault of two four-year-old girls at the pre-primary school in Badlapur East on 12-13 August.

On 23 September, Shinde died during a scuffle with a police escort team when he snatched the pistol of a police officer inside a police van and injured him and “opened fire” before he was shot dead in a “retaliatory fire” in Mumbra area when being escorted from Taloja Jail to Badlapur.

The next day, Shinde’s parents, Anna Shinde and Alka Shinde, through their lawyer Amit Katarnavare, moved the Bombay High Court and described it as a “fake encounter”.

In January, a magisterial probe indicted Senior Police Inspector Sanjay Shinde of the Thane Crime Branch, Assistant Police Inspector Nilesh More, Head Constables Abhijeet More, Head Constable Harish Tawade and a police driver Satish Khatau for the death of Shinde.

However, in February this year, they wanted to withdraw the case.

The Maharashtra government had opposed the petition seeking registration of an FIR into Shinde’s killing, saying it had found no basis to register the case against five policemen.