The Supreme Court said that the two separate petitions seeking investigation into the alleged fake encounters in Gujarat from 2002 to 2006 will come up for hearing after next week.
These petitions were originally filed in 2007, one by senior journalist BG Verghese and the other by noted lyricist Javed Akhtar and Shabnam Hashmi. It’s worth noting that BG Verghese passed away in 2014.
The matter was brought before a bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the bench that a letter requesting an adjournment of the hearing had been circulated by one of the parties. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who is representing certain private respondents in the case, was unavailable due to health reasons.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing one of the petitioners, pointed out that this matter had been pending for an extended period. He also mentioned that the report from the Justice HS Bedi committee, which had investigated multiple cases of alleged fake encounters in Gujarat from 2002 to 2006, had been submitted quite some time ago.
“The pleas will maintain their position on the board as one of the concerned parties is unwell,” remarked the bench.
Justice Bedi, a former apex court judge, had been appointed as the chairman of the monitoring committee responsible for investigating 17 alleged fake encounter cases in Gujarat from 2002 to 2006. In 2019, he submitted a report to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover. The committee recommended the prosecution of police officials in three out of the 17 cases it examined.
The bench acknowledged a request that the petitions be scheduled for a hearing after the next week.
Back on April 10, the Gujarat government had expressed reservations about the Supreme Court sharing available material with the petitioners, raising “serious doubts” about their locus standi (the right to bring an action in court) and motives.
The state’s solicitor general, representing Gujarat, had informed the top court that the petitioners were solely concerned with encounters that occurred in Gujarat, neglecting those in other states, including their own.
Prashant Bhushan referred to a previous judgment of the apex court and emphasized that it had established detailed guidelines for handling cases of fake encounters.
In its order dated April 10, the bench noted, “Counsel for the state submits that the material encounter-wise has been segregated and the paper books prepared but reservation has been expressed on sharing the same with the petitioners. This reservation is joined in by Mukul Rohatgi appearing for the three officers. Thus, we have to address this issue.”
On January 18, when dealing with these petitions, the Supreme Court observed that, after hearing the advocates for the parties, it became clear that the issue now primarily revolved around three encounters.
In its final report submitted to the apex court, the Justice Bedi committee stated that three individuals—Sameer Khan, Kasam Jafar, and Haji Ismail—were prima facie killed in fake encounters involving Gujarat Police officials. The committee indicted a total of nine police officials, including three inspector rank officers, but did not recommend the prosecution of any IPS officer.
On January 9, 2019, a bench led by then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi rejected the Gujarat government’s request to keep the final report of the committee confidential and ordered that it be provided to the petitioners.
The committee also addressed 14 other cases involving alleged fake encounter killings of individuals with names including Mithu Umar Dafer, Anil Bipin Misra, Mahesh, Rajeshwar, Kashyap Harpalsingh Dhaka, Salim Gagji Miyana, Jala Popat Devipujak, Rafiksha, Bheema Maanda Mer, Jogindrasinh Khatansing, Ganesh Khunte, Mahendra Jadav, Subhash Bhaskar Nayyar, and Sanjay.
