Greeva Garg –
Published on August 03, 2021, at 3:42 PM
The Supreme Court of India has granted an extension for 6 months for completion of investigation by the Inquiry Commission in the matter of 2019 Hyderabad encounter case.
The alleged encounter killing by the Hyderabad Police took place on December 6, 2019, of four men accused of gang rape and murder of a veterinarian.
The current extension of time for probe to inquiry commission has followed two previous extensions of 6-months in this particular matter, one in July 2020 and the other in January 2021.
The panel of inquiry commission was initially directed for probe in December 2019 and submission of report within 6 months, but the matter is still ongoing.
The request for extension of time was made by the Commission Chairman, Justice VS Sirpurkar, who was a former Supreme Court Judge. The enquiry panel constitutes of two more members, they are, Justice Rekha Baldota, Ex Bombay High Court Judge and Former CBI Director Karthikeyan.
The division bench of the Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justice Surya Kanta was hearing the PIL sought for registration of FIR and subsequent actions to be taken against the Police personnel involved in the encounter.
In the PIL, petitioners alleged that the encounter was conducted for covering the lapses on part of the police which, as they were ignorant to take action upon the complaint made by the rape victim’s parents and resulted in gang rape and murder on November 28, 2019.
During the Court proceedings, Advocate K Parameshwar appearing for the inquiry commission requested for 8-month extension contending that they received a new list of 130-witnesses.
In regard to the request by the inquiry panel, the Court remarked, “Why is this matter going on and on. This can be done in 3-4 months. Is it necessary to enquire 130-140 witnesses in this matter? UP Matter inquiry is also over, they have submitted a report also.”
The bench in its observation referred to the probe which was completed by the panel headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice BS Chauhan into the encounter killing of UP gangster Vikas Dubey.
In response to the Supreme Court question for the delay in the probe, the panel submitted that the investigation was not completed due to the COVID pandemic.
Also Read: Kerala Rape Survivor seeks Supreme Court permission to marry Rapist