SC Nod for 3-Member Judicial Panel to Probe Vikas Dubey Encounter

The bench also told the UP police not to resort to further encounters to eliminate dreaded gangsters in the state.

Vikas Dubey, prime accused in the Kanpur shoot-out incident in which 8 cops died, was killed in an alleged police encounter.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 22 July, accepted the appointment of a three-member inquiry commission headed by former top court judge Justice BS Chauhan into the alleged police encounter of gangster Vikas Dubey, and asked it to submit the report within two months to the court and the Uttar Pradesh government.

A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde also told the Uttar Pradesh police not to resort to further encounters to eliminate dreaded gangsters in the state.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the UP police, informed the top court that the state government proposes former apex court judge Justice Chauhan's name to head the three-member inquiry commission into the encounter of Vikas Dubey and his associates.

The other two members of the commission are retired judge of Allahabad High Court Justice Shashi Kant Agarwal and former Director General of Police KL Gupta.

The apex court noted that the secretarial assistance to the Justice Chauhan committee shall be provided by the Centre and not the state government.

The bench also declined to monitor the investigations into Dubey's encounter. "Just because it has received so much publicity, we cannot begin monitoring criminal investigation," said the Chief Justice.

The commission will begin functioning within a week.