SC seeks report in 3 months on 'fake encounters' in Gujarat
merisarkar news service New Delhi, January 25, 2012
All encounters between 2002-06 to be probed
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the monitoring authority headed by its former judge to look into the killings in alleged fake encounters between 2002 to 2006 in Gujarat "so that the truth can come out".
Gujarat government had appointed former apex court judge MB Shah in April last year to monitor the investigation into the killings in the alleged fake encounters which purportedly showed a pattern that people from the minority community were targeted as terrorists.
"Having regard to the fact that a monitoring authority has been put in place and a former judge of this court is its chairman, we desire the chairman to look into all instances of the alleged fake encounters mentioned in the two writ petitions".
"We want the investigation to be thorough so that the truth in each case is revealed," a bench comprising justices Aftab Alam and C K Prasad said while asking the Chairman of the monitoring authority to place before it the preliminary report on the issue within three months.
The two PILs filed by veteran journalist B G Verghese and poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar had sought a direction for a probe by an independent agency or CBI so that the "truth may come out".
The bench said it will be open for the chairman of the monitoring authority to constitute an independent team either with officer from Gujarat Special Task Force (STF) or from outside "considering the sensitivity of the matter" as some senior officers of the state police force have been accused of killing people in fake encounters.
