The Supreme Court on Monday ripped into the Uttar Pradesh Government's attempt to block its hand in the alleged Vikas Dubey fake encounter case by setting up an inquiry panel on its own, with a retired Allahabad High Court judge as its chairman.Overriding the state government's decision, Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde ruled that the inquiry commission will be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court; also, a former IPS officer of the rank of the Director General of Police will be a member of the commission. The former High Court judge, who has been named by the UP government, will also be part of the commission.
The Bench, which included Justices R Subhash Reddy and A S Bopanna, asked the State Government to institute the commission as directed, when Solicitor General Tushar Mehta tried to apprise it that the state government had already instituted an inquiry.
The CJI also said the draft notification reconstituting the inquiry commission would be placed before it for approval.Expressing reservation over the terms of reference of the inquiry committee set up by the Uttar Pradesh government, which includes other criminal cases against Dubey, Chief Justice Bobde said, “You are changing the focus into something else.”
He also asked the solicitor general to look into certain statements of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the deputy chief minister. Bobde said this after his attention was drawn to the statements relating to Dubey case.When Solicitor General Mehta, appearing for Uttar Pradesh government, and senior counsel Harish Salve, who was appearing for the Director General of Uttar Pradesh police, sought to focus on the antecedents of Dubey, CJI Bobde quipped it was appalling that Dubey with so many criminal cases against him was released on parole by the court.Describing the release of Dubey with 64 criminal cases against him as an institutional failure, CJI Bobde said, “We are appalled that such a person with so many cases was released on parole and he eventually did this. I think it is an institutional failure and we want to go into this issue; give us an accurate report of all the orders. This shows the failure of the system.”“It is not only one incident that is at stake. What is at stake is the whole system”, Bobde told Solicitor General Mehta.
Senior counsel Harish Salve said that Dubey case is qualitatively different from the Telangana encounter in which four accused in a gang rape and murder of a veterinary doctor were killed in an encounter.
‘‘Here is a person involved in the slaughter of eight police personnel,’’ he pointed out. Arguing that even policemen have “fundamental rights”, Salve asked, “Can the police be accused of excessive force when it is engaged in a live encounter with a dreaded criminal?”However, CJI Bobde differed with Salve, when he argued that any different course would have a demoralizing effect on police. “We don’t appreciate this argument. If rule of law is strengthened, it is not a question of demoralizing the police force,” CJI Bobde said.A lawyer, Vishal Tiwari, was rebuked by the CJI when he said that the court should not accept the inquiry committee sponsored by the Uttar Pradesh government.Taking exception to the word “sponsored,” the CJI asked, “Are you saying a former Supreme Court judge and High Court judge are state sponsored?”When Tiwari pleaded that he did not mean it, the CJI shot back: “That’s what you are implying. This attitude of slinging mud at all must
