Kriti Agrawal
The Supreme Court overturned the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling dismissing a petition brought by the father of killed gangster Jaipal Singh Bhullar asking the Punjab government to conduct a second autopsy on his son’s remains.
The Supreme Court further ordered the Punjab and Haryana High Court to revisit the case on June 21.
Vacation Bench of Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice MR Shah also ordered the Punjab government to make suitable arrangements to preserve the body, which had been transported from Kolkata to Firozpur in Punjab.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had previously denied Bhullar’s father’s request for an autopsy of his son’s body at PGIMER or AIIMS in New Delhi, or at an independent medical institute, to determine the nature of injuries. The Court stated that because the incident occurred in Kolkata, it is not within its jurisdiction.
After obtaining pin-pointed information from their Punjab colleagues, Kolkata police shot and killed Jaipal Bhullar and another thug, Jaspreet Singh, who were involved in the recent murders of two police officers in Ludhiana.
During the hearing in the Supreme Court, advocate Ishma Randhawa, who was representing Bhullar’s father Bhupinder Singh, claimed that the encounter was staged and that the dead were tortured to death. She claimed that Singh had seen Bhullar’s body, which had turned blue and had fractured bones.
According to Randhawa, his father travelled to Kolkata on his own and returned with the body to Firozpur in Punjab.
Ishma stated on behalf of Bhupinder Singh, “I’m not asking for a CBI investigation into the incident, all I want is a second autopsy to determine whether he died as a result of incarceration abuse. Under Article 21 of the constitution, I have the right to know how my son was killed.”