SC to hear on Friday petition for constituting expert committee on Atiq’s killing
New Delhi, Apr 24: The Supreme Court will hear on April 28 a petition for constituting an independent expert committee headed by a former Supreme Court Judge to inquire into the brutal killing of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf in police custody.
A bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chadrachud, said the matter will be taken up for hearing on Friday.
The bench clarified that as five judges are down with Covid, there are cases on which dates were given but not listed.
“This case (of petitioner Vishal Tiwari) will be heard on Friday,” the CJI said.
The petition has been filed by Tiwari before the Supreme Court on April 17.
The Apex Court had on April 18 said that it will take up the petition for hearing on April 24, but as it was not listed, Tiwari mentioned it and sought listing and hearing of the matter.
Tiwari mentioned that his plea seeking a probe into the extra judicial killings in Uttar Pradesh should be listed for urgent hearing.
He also sought an independent inquiry into all encounter killings in Uttar Pradesh since 2017.
“Such incidents are a severe threat to the democracy and rule of law, and such acts are establishments of anarchy and prima facie development of police state. It is a direct attack on Indian democracy and rule of law” Tiwari said.
Tiwari pleaded for a direction to constitute an independent expert committee under the chairmanship of a former Supreme Court judge to inquire into the police custody murder of Atiq and Ashraf.
He also sought a direction from the Supreme Court that the panel should also investigate 183 encounters, which had occurred in the state since 2017, as stated by the Uttar Pradesh Special Director General of Police (Law and Order).
Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were allegedly shot dead, while they were being taken to a hospital for check-up in Prayagraj on April 15, amid police presence.
Tiwari in his petition has also sought direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe, collect and record the evidence in the Kanpur Bikru Encounter case of 2020, in which Vikas Dubey and his aides were killed by police in an encounter as the inquiry commission could not record the evidence and has filed the inquiry report in absence of that.
The petitioner has said that he had also approached the court earlier in the matter pertaining to the Kanpur encounter on Vikas Dubey and said that in a similar incident by Uttar Pradesh police, Asad, son of Atiq Ahmed, was killed.
