HC issues notices to 16 police personnel, asks govt to reply in 3 weeks

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court on Wednesday issued notices to 16 police personnel and directed the state government to file its counter affidavit (reply) within three weeks in connection with an alleged fake encounter in Muzaffarnagar.

The police personnel to whom the notices were issued were allegedly involved in the encounter of one Furqan by the Special Task Force on October 22 last year.

Justice JJ Munir passed the order on a revision petition filed by Mir Hassan, father of Furqan.

Although the order was not uploaded on the high court website, it was confirmed by the petitioner’s lawyer.

Mir Hasan had filed an application in the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Muzaffarnagar, demanding lodging of an FIR against the allegedly guilty police personnel. However, on January 16, 2018, the CJM court rejected the application. This rejection order was challenged before the high court by the present revision petition.

Syed Farman Ahmad Naqvi, the counsel for Mir Hasan, argued that Furqan was killed by police personnel in a fake encounter. When police allegedly refused to lodge an FIR against police personnel involved in the case, he filed an application under section 156(3) CrPC seeking lodging of the FIR.

However, his application was rejected and it was stated in the FIR that Furqan was a criminal with a reward of Rs 50,000 on his capture. “Even a criminal has Right to Life. Article 21 of the Constitution of India, provides, ‘No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law,” argued Naqvi.

The hearing in the case will commence after three weeks.

The STF and Budhana police in Muzaffarnagar had killed Furqan in an encounter last year but failed to inform his family about it for several days.

Mir Hassan, Furqan’s father, continued to visit Budhana police in search of his son for several days, after which Furqan’s body was handed over to him.

THE STF AND BUDHANA POLICE IN MUZAFFARNAGAR HAD KILLED FURQAN IN AN ENCOUNTER LAST YEAR BUT FAILED TO INFORM HIS FAMILY ABOUT IT FOR SEVERAL DAYS