Terming the encounters in Uttar Pradesh a very serious matter and which require a detailed hearing, the Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government.
The Supreme Court will hear the petitions filed by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and Citizens Against Hat (CAH) on February 12.
“Supreme Court issues notice Uttar Pradesh government on a PIL seeking a court-monitored CBI or SIT probe into recent encounter killings in the state. CJI Ranjan Gogoi says it’s a very serious matter which requires detailed hearing. Matter posted for further hearing on Feb 12,” news agency ANI reported.
According to Live Law, CAH informed the apex court about the recent statements issued by United Nation’s agencies against the encounter killings in Uttar Pradesh.
On January 11, 2019, four human rights experts issued a press release expressing their concern over rise in encounter killings in the state.
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“We are extremely concerned about the pattern of events: individuals allegedly being abducted or arrested before their killing, and their bodies bearing injuries indicative of torture. We have also received allegations of corruption including the police demanding money to release the victim prior to the killing,” the UN experts said.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan informed the top court that National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is looking into 17 encounters and requested to direct NHRC to submit a status report before the court.
The petition was filed by PUCL in July last year and it mentions that over 1,100 encounters took place in the state last year, in which 49 people were killed and 370 injured.
The petition also stated that the Uttar Pradesh government was encouraging extra-judicial killings. To support its statement, it quoted an alleged statement of Adityanath given on July 17, 2017 that “criminals will be either jailed or killed.”
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