Top court to examine petition seeking probe

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Monday agreed to examine in detail “on the earliest possible date” a plea seeking a court-monitored CBI or SIT probe into incidents of alleged police encounters and killings in Uttar Pradesh.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi perused the materials on record and said the issues raised in the plea of People’s Union for Civil Liberties required “serious consideration” and fixed hearing on February 12.

“Having considered the pleadings brought on record and having heard ...we are of the view that the matter would require an examination by the court on the earliest possible date. We accordingly fix the matter for hearing on February 12, on the top of the board,” the bench, which also comprised justices Ashok Bhushan and SK Kaul, said.

The top court said it would decide on the next date of hearing the plea of organisation ‘Citizens against Hate’, represented by lawyer Prashant Bhushan, seeking to be made a party to the petition filed by the PUCL. It will also decide on February 12 whether to seek a report from the National Human Rights Commission on the alleged encounter killings.

Bhushan said the rights body was “in seisin of some of the (encounter) cases” and its report be called for the adjudication of the plea by the apex court. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, said all norms and procedures were followed by the state administration.