SC may look into plea seeking judicial probe in Batla house encounter

The NGO submitted in its petition that the High Court has erred in accepting the findings of NHRC,which had refuted the allegation that it was a fake encounter.

It pleaded that the High Court did not go into the merit of the case and only relied on the finding of the Commission’s report on the ground that it is a statutory body whose report cannot be questioned.

The petitioner that argued an independent judicial inquiry is required in the case as serious doubts were raised by different groups of civil society on the conduct of the police officials in the encounter.

It also contended that NHRC has failed to conduct a proper inquiry in the case as its officials did not visit the site of the encounter and only made a report by accepting the police version.

The High Court had on August 26 refused to direct a judicial probe into the encounter by accepting the Commission’s report which gave clean chit to the police.

The High Court had rejected the NGO’s contention that the NHRC has failed to conduct a proper investigation in reaching the conclusion that it was not a fake encounter.

NHRC had on July 22 given a clean chit to the Delhi Police in the case in which two suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists and Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma,an encounter specialist,were killed on September 19 last year.

NHRC,which had conducted an inquiry into the case on the direction of the Delhi High Court,has in its report refuted the allegation that the encounter was fake and the police had fired on unarmed persons and inspector Sharma was killed as a result of rivalry within the police.

Challenging the findings of the Commission,the NGO,on whose plea NHRC was asked to conduct the probe,had contended that “the Commission has failed to do the basic things required in the investigation and the police version was not scrutinised.” NHRC,in its 30-page report submitted in the High Court on July 22,had said there was no case made out against the Delhi Police for violation of human rights.

“We are clearly of the opinion that having regard to the material placed before us,it cannot be said that there has been any violation of human rights by action of the police,” the Commission had said.

The NHRC report claimed it was not the police which started firing. The occupants of the house where the encounter took place opened fire first on the police,which retaliated in self-defence,resulting in the death of the two suspected Indian Mujahideen activists,it said.

The suspected IM terrorists who were killed were identified as Atif Ameen and Mohd Sajid. Two other IM suspects Mohd Saif and Zeeshan were arrested subsequently from Batla House area.

The shootout occurred a week after serial blasts rocked the capital killing 26 people and injuring 133 others.