“Strengthen rule of law and the police force won’t be demoralised,” CJI SA Bobde told senior advocate Harish Salve who appeared for the UP DGP and argued that the Dubey encounter was different from the one in Telangana where an unarmed rape accused was killed. Even police personnel have fundamental rights, Salve said. When Dubey slaughtered cops, “can police be accused of using excessive force when it was engaged in a live encounter with a dreaded criminal? We can’t keep demoralising the police force,” Salve contended.
The CJI, however, told solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the UP government: “It is not one incident which is at stake. It is the whole system.” The CJI wondered how a person such as Dubey, accused of many crimes and under a life sentence, was on bail. “We are appalled that such a person with so many cases was released on bail and eventually did this (killing of cops). Give us an accurate report of all the orders. This shows the failure of the system,” the CJI said. He also insisted that UP include a former SC judge in its judicial panel to probe encounters. This would be in addition to a former judge of the Allahabad High Court and a retired police officer, the top court said.
Representing the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, advocate Sanjay Parikh read out statements purportedly made by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, justifying encounters. He argued for an independent inquiry into the encounters on the ground that the state government cannot be trusted. The CJI told him that the larger issue of encounters would be examined later.
He did though tell the SG to examine the chief minister’s and deputy chief ministers’ statements. If they made certain statements and something has followed, you should look into this, the CJI told the solicitor general.
A plea had been filed in the court seeking protection for Dubey on the eve of his killing. It was later changed to a plea for an independent probe into the killing.