Plea Filed in SC Seeking Independent Committee Investigation into Killings of Atiq and Ashraf

GG News Bureau

New Delhi, 17th April. Just a day after gangster turned politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead under police escort, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Sunday requesting the constitution of an independent expert committee led by a former Supreme Court judge to investigate the killings.

The petition, filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, also requested an investigation into the 183 encounters that have occurred in Uttar Pradesh since 2017.

On Saturday night, Ahmad (60) and Ashraf (60), who were in handcuffs, were shot dead by three men posing as journalists while answering reporters’ questions while being escorted by police personnel to a medical college in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj for a checkup.

Just hours before the shooting, Ahmad’s son Asad, who was killed along with one of his associates in a police encounter in Jhansi on April 13, was laid to rest.

On Friday, the Uttar Pradesh Police said it had killed 183 alleged criminals in encounters during the six-year tenure of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s government, including Asad and his accomplice.

The petition requested the formation of an independent expert committee to investigate the murder of Atiq and Ashraf.

“Issue guidelines/directions to safeguard the rule of law by constituting an Independent Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of former Supreme Court justice to inquire into the 183 encounters which had occurred since 2017 as stated by Uttar Pradesh Special Director General of Police (Law and Order) and also to inquire into the police custody murder of Atiq and Ashraf,” it said.

Referring to Atiq’s killing, the plea said “such actions by police are a severe threat to democracy and rule of law and lead to police state”.

“In a democratic society the police cannot be allowed to become a mode of delivering final justice or to become a punishing authority. The power of punishment is only vested in the judiciary,” the plea stated.

Extrajudicial killings or fake police encounters, according to the plea, have no place under the law.

When the police turn “Dare Devils then the entire rule of law collapses and generates fear in the mind of people against police which is very dangerous for democracy and this also results into further crime,” it stated.