Now Reading: High court rap forces UP Police to rethink encounter paperwork
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High court rap forces UP Police to rethink encounter paperwork
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court's sharp observations on the Shravasti 'half-encounter' have pushed the Uttar Pradesh Police to reconsider how encounter cases are documented and defended. While the state's…
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court's sharp observations on the Shravasti 'half-encounter' have pushed the Uttar Pradesh Police to reconsider how encounter cases are documented and defended. While the state's encounter policy itself may stay, the way cases are presented in court is expected to change.
In an August 13 order, Justice Subhash Vidyarthi flagged ten major inconsistencies, including 13 policemen travelling in one vehicle and two perfect shots on a moonlit night. The court noted a pattern where police claim the accused fired indiscriminately but no officer is ever hit, while the accused is shot in the leg.
The high court has ordered a CBI probe into the Shravasti case, to be completed in three months. It will also examine whether the prosecution was conducted with undue haste. The matter is listed for further hearing on November 23.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The Allahabad high court's checklist for future encounters, mandatory videography, ballistic matching, GPS logs, mirrors the Supreme Court's 2014 guidelines in PUCL v. Maharashtra, which require independent investigation of every encounter causing death or grievous injury. That judgment arose from the 2006 encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, a case that still haunts the police and political establishment. The Shravasti case now tests whether a state with over 1,000 recorded 'half-encounters' in recent years can shift from the shoot-in-the-leg model to verifiable policing. The CBI's findings, due in three months, will set the precedent for how future encounter FIRs are drafted and vetted.
Source: hindustantimes.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
