Four Months On, Commission Probe on Vikas Dubey ‘Encounter’ Killing Still Pending

Source:-https://thewire.in

Lucknow: The three-member high-level judicial commission headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice B.S. Chauhan is likely to take a few more months to complete its probe into the police ‘encounter’ in which Kanpur gangster Vikas Dubey was killed about five months ago under suspicious circumstances.

The commission of inquiry was set up by the apex court on July 22, in view of the serious controversies that arose over the manner in which the alleged encounter took place on July 10. The court’s order said the inquiry was to be completed over a two months, more four months later, little headway has been made.

According to Justice Chauhan, the commission has already sought an extension, on the plea that such inquiries always involve long procedures. “We started the inquiry once the commission’s office was set up in Lucknow; we visited different places including Vikas Dubey’s village where he had gunned down eight policemen, as well as the place where he was killed in the encounter. Currently, evidence of policemen and government officials is being recorded; and once that is done, we will invite the other parties to record their evidence, following which lawyers of the two sides will put across their respective arguments,” he told The Wire over telephone from Noida, where he lives.

“The report will be prepared only after this whole exercise is accomplished,” he said while adding, “I have also been a bit unwell for some time.” Asked how much more time the commission will need to complete its task, he said, “I cannot say that right away.”

Some delay was caused on account of the initial controversy over the credentials of each of the three members. A petition was moved by a Mumbai-based lawyer, Ghanshyam Upadhyay, before the highest court against the appointment of Justice Chauhan as head of the commission. Upadhyay had argued that Justice Chauhan’s younger brother, Virendra Singh, was a Bharatiya Janata Party MLC and is known to be a frontrunner for a berth in the UP council of ministers whenever the next expansion takes place. In addition, Justice Chauhan’s daughter is married to a BJP MP’s son.

However, the Supreme Court not only dismissed the petition but also castigated Upadhyay for raising all objections against Justice Chauhan’s appointment. “There are judges whose father or brother or relatives are MPs. Are you (petitioner) saying that they all are biased judges? If any relative is belonging to a political party, is this an illegal act?” the apex court had told the lawyer petitioner.

The top court had earlier already dismissed a separate plea seeking the removal of two other members of the inquiry commission, saying that it would not allow the petitioner to cast aspersions.

The other two members of the judicial commission are former UP director general of police K.L. Gupta and retired Allahabad high court judge Justice S.K. Agarwal. Interestingly, the names of each of the three members were proposed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta in consultation with the UP government, which was clearly the interested party. Gupta’s strong BJP nexus was an open secret and he headed the UP Police during the Kalyan Singh regime. His close relative, Mohit Agarwal, was Inspector General of Police of the Kanpur zone and his role in the encounters was bound to come under question.

Justice Agarwal had resigned after he was transferred from Allahabad to the Jharkhand high court. He was practicing in the Uttarakhand high court when he was handpicked for the judicial panel.

It may be pertinent to mention here that the Vikas Dubey encounter was not the only case in which the originally prescribed timeframe for a judicial probe has been stretched. Past experience says that judicial commissions usually seek repeated extensions to fulfil their tasks. And more often than not, reports of such commissions come so late in the day that popular interest in the issue has faded away.