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Synopsis

Advocate Vishal Tiwari has moved the Apex Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India seeking an investigation by a judicial committee led by a retired judge of the apex court into the murder of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed while they were in police custody.

Through his plea, Tiwari requested the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to undertake responsibility for the investigation into the Vikash Dubey fake encounter case in 2020.

His plea also requested an investigation into the 183 encounters that have occurred in Uttar Pradesh since 2017.

He highlighted that, how these encounters destroy the democracy in the state of Uttar Pradesh. It was stated that such actions by police are nothing but a threat to democracy and rule of law, which gives rise to anarchy in the state.

The petition added that extrajudicial killings or fake police encounters have been severely punished by the law. In a democratic society, the police cannot become a means of providing final justice or punishing authority. Only the Judiciary has the authority to impose punishment.

“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 hands of the Judiciary. The police when become DARE DEVILS then the entire Rule of law collapses and generates fear in the mind of people against the police which is very dangerous for democracy and this also results in further crime.”

On Saturday night, the Ahmad brothers were shot dead in a shocking incident around 10 p.m. as they were being taken to a hospital in Prayagraj for a medical examination in the presence of police and the media.

The three suspects arrived at the scene acting as journalists and shot the Ahmed siblings at point-blank range in full view of media personnel and live television cameras. The incident occurred just two days after Asad, Atique's son, was killed.

According to the plea, while the private assailants were arrested immediately by the UP Police, there was no protection or retaliation from the police during the commission of the offence, which raised questions about the transparency of police operations. This also proves that the incident was pre-planned.

Further, the plea calls into question of Vikas Dubey who was killed in an encounter by UP Police in July 2020.

Furthermore, the plea questions the credibility of the report and findings of a three-member inquiry committee formed to investigate the Vikas Dubey Encounter, which found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Uttar Pradesh police in the encounter killings.

Lastly, Tiwari in his petition prayed for the issuance of a writ of Mandamus and seeks CBI to investigate, collect and record the evidence in Vikas Dubey Encounter Case. Further to Issue the guidelines/directions to safeguard the Rule of law by constituting an Independent Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of a Former Supreme Court Judge to inquire into the 183 encounters which had occurred since 2017 as stated by Uttar Pradesh Special Director.

Case Title: Vishal Tiwari vs. Union Of India and Ors.

Statute: Article 32 of the Constitution of India