SC Asks UP Govt for Status Report On Measures Adopted Post Atiq Ahmad, Brother’s Killing

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday posed a question to the UP government even as a petition for formation of an independent committee to probe the murder of gangster Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashrat on April 15 was being considered.

The SC asked the UP government, “Why were they not taken to the ambulance right from the entry gate to the hospital? Why were they paraded?"

Three men posing as journalists shot dead at point-blank range dreaded gangster Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashrat when they were in the middle of a media interaction. They were being escorted by police personnel to a medical college in Prayagraj for a checkup when they were shot dead. The horrific incident was caught on TV cameras right in the middle of a live telecast.

A comprehensive status report from the state government was sought by the bench of Justices SR Bhat and Dipankar Datta with regards to the steps taken to enquire into the deaths of Atiq and his brother, which occurred on April 15, 2023. The SC bench also asked for a report on the encounter killing of son Asad on April 14, 2023. The court also posed a question as to how the shooters came to know that Ahmad and his brother would be taken to the hospital at that time.

While posting the plea filed by Advocate Vishal Tiwari for inquiry into 183 encounters that had occurred since 2017 as stated by Uttar Pradesh Special Director General of Police (Law and Order) to be heard after three weeks, the court had also asked the state to disclose the steps taken by the state after the submission of Justice BS Chauhan commission report.

In his plea leveling allegations of violation of the rule of law and oppressive police brutalities in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Tiwari had said that extra judicial killings or fake encounters have been very badly condemned under the law. The plea had stated, “The power of punishment is only vested in the Judiciary. When the police become daredevils then the entire Rule of law collapses and generates fear in the mind of people against the police which is very dangerous for the Democracy and this also results into further crime.”

Tiwari had argued in the plea that such actions are a severe threat to the democracy and rule of law, establishments of anarchy and prima facie development of the police state. “In a democratic society the police cannot be allowed to become a mode of delivering final justice or to become a punishing Authority,” the plea also stated.

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