The Supreme Court on Saturday (August 12) strongly rebuked the Uttar Pradesh government following the killings of former Lok Sabha member Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf in police custody on April 15 in Prayagraj. The court expressed suspicion of "complicity" and has demanded a comprehensive status report on 183 reported "police encounters" that have occurred since 2017, news agency PTI reported.
According to the report, the Uttar Pradesh state police assert that a total of 183 individuals have lost their lives in a series of police encounters since the Yogi Adityanath government assumed power in March 2017. However, critics of the administration, including detractors of CM Yogi Adityanath, contend that many of these encounters may have been staged, it added.
A bench composed of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Aravind Kumar ordered the UP government to submit a detailed affidavit within six weeks, encompassing pertinent details of each encounter, the status of investigations, filed charge sheets, and the progress of any ongoing trials, PTI reported.
According to the report, the court raised questions regarding the circumstances of Atiq Ahmad's death, as Justice Bhat commented during the hearing, "There were 5 to 10 people guarding him (Atiq)...How can someone just come and shoot? How does this happen? Someone is complicit".
The apex court also issued a notice to the UP government in response to a petition filed by Aisha Noori, the late gangster-politician Ahmad's sister. She demanded a thorough investigation into her brothers' killings, it said.
While the court denied the request for an independent judicial commission of inquiry into the police encounters, citing the state government's existing formation of such a commission, it did agree to hear several requests, including Aisha Noori's, for the establishment of a commission chaired by a retired apex court judge to investigate the "extra-judicial" killings, as per the report.
On April 15, three individuals posing as journalists shot Atiq Ahmad, 60, and Ashraf during a media interaction. The incident occurred while the brothers were being escorted by police officers to a medical college for a check-up. The entire incident was shockingly captured live on national television.
The Uttar Pradesh government stated in an affidavit filed in the top court that the state is "leaving no stone unturned in ensuring a thorough, impartial, and timely investigation" into the deaths of Ahmad and Ashraf, the report said.
The affidavit emphasised the state's efforts to put the Justice B S Chauhan Commission's recommendations into action, which was in charge of investigating the encounter killing of gangster Vikas Dubey in 2020, it added further.