LAWYER ASKS FOR INQUIRY INTO UTTAR PRADESH CUSTODY DEATHS

▶ Indian Supreme Court urged to set up committee to look into killing of Atiq Ahmed and others

An Indian lawyer has asked the Supreme Court to set up an independent committee to investigate the killing of a former MP and of dozens of other alleged criminals in police custody in Uttar Pradesh state over the past six years.

Atiq Ahmed, a former parliamentarian who was convicted of kidnapping and was in custody charged with murder, was shot dead on Saturday by three men at point-blank range while being escorted by police to a hospital in Prayagraj.

His brother Ashraf, also facing charges in the case, was also killed in the attack, which was seen on a live television broadcast.

In a public interest litigation ( PIL) filed yesterday, lawyer Vishal Tiwari asked the Supreme Court to form a committee under a retired judge to look into the high number of killings of alleged criminals in police custody and in shoot-outs with police since 2017, when a Hindu nationalist government led by politician- monk Yogi Adityanath came to power in Uttar Pradesh.

Mr Tiwari said that the killing of Mr Ahmed and more than 180 alleged criminals during that time was a direct challenge to the rule of law and the judicial system.

“The police become daredevils, then the entire rule of law collapses and generates the fear in the mind of people against police, which is very dangerous for democracy, and this also results in further crime,” a transcript of the PIL reported by Live Law, a legal news website, said. “In a democratic society, the police cannot be allowed to become a mode of delivering final justice or become a punishing authority.

“The power of punishment is only vested in the judiciary.”

Mr Ahmed this month asked the highest court to provide him with protection, saying he feared that he and his family would be harmed by the “state”, but the court rejected his plea.

About 4,500 detainees died in Indian police custody or extrajudicial killings between 2020 and 2022, according to government data.

In the killing on Saturday, police said assassins came disguised as journalists and opened fire at Mr Ahmed and his brother as police took them in handcuffs to hospital for a check-up.

All three attackers were arrested at the scene after firing nearly two dozen bullets and shouting “Jai Shri Ram” (Glory to Lord Rana), a chant popular among India’s right-wing Hindu nationalists.

Mr Ahmed and his brother had been held in Gujarat state and were scheduled to appear in a court in Prayagraj yesterday in connection with the murder of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the 2005 murder of Mr Ahmed’s political rival.

Mr Pal was shot dead in February, allegedly by Mr Ahmed’s employees. Mr Ahmed was convicted of kidnapping him in 2019.

Mr Ahmed’s son, who was also accused of involvement in Mr Pal’s murder, died in a shoot- out with police this month.

Critics accuse Uttar Pradesh’s Hindu nationalist leader of promoting “extrajudicial killings” after his government adopted a zero tolerance policy against crime six years ago.

Since then, there have been about 11,000 shoot- outs involving police, in which at least 183 alleged criminals have been killed.

In a democratic society, police cannot be allowed to become a mode of delivering final justice or a punishing authority Legal petitioner VISHAL TIWARI