Add ex-judge, retired police officer in Vikas Dubey encounter inquiry committee: Supreme Court tells Uttar Pradesh

Kanpur: The Supreme Court on Monday (July 20) asked the Uttar Pradesh government to consider adding a former top court judge and a retired police officer in the inquiry committee which has been set up to investigate the encounter of gangster Vikas Dubey. The bench said it cannot spare a sitting top court judge to become a part of the inquiry committee.

The court in its hearing today said that the Uttar Pradesh government will present a new draft notification in the court on July 22 after which the bench will announce verdict in the case. The court added that it was appalled to see that the gangster got bail despite so many cases of severe crime filed against him. "This is a failure of the system," the court said.

A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde, hearing a batch of pleas seeking court-monitored probe into the encounters of Dubey and his alleged associates, told the Uttar Pradesh government that they have to uphold rule of law.

"You as a state have to uphold the rule of law. It is your duty to do so," the top court said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, sought some time to take instruction and get back to the court on the issue. 

Chief Justice Bobade asked the Solicitor General Mehta to explain how the Kanpur encounter was different from the Hyderabad, in which four gangrape accused were shot dead in November 2019. Mehta informed the court said that UP government has constituted an inquiry committee to investigate the matter. He added that gangster Dubey had tried to burn the bodies of police personnel who were killed during an ambush in Bikru village on July 3.

On this, the CJI told the Solicitor General, "Don't tell us who Vikas Dubey was."

Eight policemen, including DSP Devendra Mishra, were ambushed in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur when they were going to arrest Dubey and fell to bullets fired from rooftops shortly after midnight on July 3.

Dubey was killed in an encounter in the morning of July 10 when a police vehicle carrying him from Ujjain to Kanpur met with an accident and he tried to escape from the spot in Bhauti area, the police had said.

Prior to Dubey's encounter, five of his alleged associated were killed in separate encounters.