The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court dismissed a writ petition filed by Adv. Nandita Bharti seeking a Judicial Probe in the alleged murder of gangster Vikas Dubey who was shot dead in an encounter by the Uttar Pradesh Police on the morning of 10th July while he was trying to flee on the way to Kanpur from Ujjain.
“Considering the fact that an SIT (Special Investigation Team) and the judicial commission have already been constituted by the state government to inquire into the alleged incident in question, we dismiss the present writ petition as withdrawn, with the liberty to file a fresh petition, if the occasion arises”
Justice P K Jaiswal and Justice K S Pawar
A local lawyer, Adv. Nandita Bharti, filed the writ petition, seeking constitution of a Judicial Commission headed by a former/sitting high court judge to probe into the encounter of Dubey so that matter may be inquired in terms of the guidelines framed by the Supreme Court in PUCL & Anr. v. State of Maharashtra & Ors. (2014) 10 SCC 635
Adv. Nandita Bharti also pleaded that the Supreme Court has framed detailed guidelines regarding the procedure to be adopted in police encounters because it affects the credibility of the rule of law and the administration of the criminal justice system.
Additional Advocate General, V K Sahi opposed the plea by arguing that a special investigation team (SIT), headed by the Additional Chief Secretary, and a Judicial Commission, headed by retired High Court judge S K Agarwal, have already been constituted. Therefore no Judicial Probe was required. He claimed that the petition was infructuous.
