New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today ordered a probe into fake encounters in Gujarat by a monitoring authority headed by retired SC Judge M B Shah. The panel will probe encounters between 2003 and 2006 and submit a report in three months.
About 22 alleged fake encounters are alleged to have taken place in Gujarat during this period.
The monitoring authority headed by Justice Shah was set up by the Gujarat government last year to oversee investigations by the Special Task Force probing fake encounters.
When the Gujarat government informed the court that a monitoring authority had already been appointed by the state, the Supreme Court said that it would ask this panel to probe the fake encounters.
The Supreme Court said that the authority can appoint its own officers and call for records from the state government and the Human Rights Commission. It can also hear the victims' kin on compensation pleas, the court said.
The Supreme Court is hearing a bunch of petitions against fake encounters in Gujarat between 2002 and 2006. These petitions allege that there was a pattern to the encounters, with people from the minority community being the target.
While one petition filed by journalist B G Verghese seeks an inquiry into 22 alleged fake encounter killings in Gujarat between 2003 and 2006, another filed by lyricist Javed Akhtar seeks a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged fake encounters in Gujarat claiming innocent people, particularly from the minority community, were targeted as terrorists.
About 22 alleged fake encounters are alleged to have taken place in Gujarat during this period.
The monitoring authority headed by Justice Shah was set up by the Gujarat government last year to oversee investigations by the Special Task Force probing fake encounters.
When the Gujarat government informed the court that a monitoring authority had already been appointed by the state, the Supreme Court said that it would ask this panel to probe the fake encounters.
The Supreme Court said that the authority can appoint its own officers and call for records from the state government and the Human Rights Commission. It can also hear the victims' kin on compensation pleas, the court said.
The Supreme Court is hearing a bunch of petitions against fake encounters in Gujarat between 2002 and 2006. These petitions allege that there was a pattern to the encounters, with people from the minority community being the target.
While one petition filed by journalist B G Verghese seeks an inquiry into 22 alleged fake encounter killings in Gujarat between 2003 and 2006, another filed by lyricist Javed Akhtar seeks a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged fake encounters in Gujarat claiming innocent people, particularly from the minority community, were targeted as terrorists.
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