The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, 28 July, dismissed petitions asking for removal of retired Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) KL Gupta from the 3-member inquiry commission that had been set up to investigate the alleged encounter of Vikas Dubey, reported Live Law.
The top court bench headed by CJI S A Bobde reportedly said that it would not allow the petitioners to cast aspersions on the commission.
The petitioners Ghanshyam Upadhyay and Anoop Prakash Awasthi had reportedly argued that Gupta was biased and prejudiced in the matter, and that he had given statements to the press stating that "police version of the encounter should be accepted on 'face value'”.
"On face value, we should accept what police are saying. Why do we always start with negativity and dub police wrong? Encounters are not done, they happen", Gupta had reportedly told PTI on 10 July.
The CJI however refused to change the person appointed and, as quoted by Livelaw, said:
“We cannot change the person appointed. He has given a balanced view. You are looking at only one part of it. Not the other part of it. We will not allow you to cast aspersions on someone’s integrity on this. How can you call a man corrupt by a statement that simply says rule of law should be followed?”CJI Bobde
Further, the CJI denied that there was “a reasonable likelihood of a bias”
“A right-minded person who reads the whole thing will not think that the person who said this is biased”CJI Bobde
The Supreme Court had appointed former high court judge Justice Shashi Kant Agarwal, former Supreme Court judge Justice BS Chauhan and ex-DGP KL Gupta to the commission on the recommendation of the Uttar Pradesh government. Former DGP Gupta has reportedly said to The Indian Express that now he is part of the inquiry, he will “work more and speak less.”
After Vikas Dubey killed eight policemen who were to nab him in a shoot-out at Kanpur’s Bikaru village, he was allegedly killed in a police encounter in Kanpur on 10 July. His associates were also killed allegedly in separate police encounters.
(With inputs from LiveLaw and The Indian Express)
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