72 cases in 5 dists: Trial to be a mammoth one
KANPUR: The trial in the Bikru shoot-out in which a gangster Vikas Dubey and his men ambushed and killed eight policemen in July last year would be as big as was the incident. In total, 72 cases would undergo trial in different courts of five districts—the biggest so far.
The cases were registered in the aftermath of the shoot-out, encounters of people involved and on recommendation of Special Investigation Team (SIT), which was formed to probe specifically on nine points.
Seven FIRs are related to the shoot-out and the encounters, which took place in Kanpur, Kanpur Dehat, Hamirpur, Etawah and Auraiya and 65 FIRs were lodged on the basis of SIT findings.
As the trial in all these cases would be Herculean, there was deliberation on having a dedicated team of prosecutors and a special court, which could hear all the cases, said officials privy to the development. “The trial in the cases cannot be left to the station officer Chaubeypur and district government counsel to follow. Seven to eight officers would have been changed by the time the cases reach verdict stage in five years from now,” said an official.
Another pointed out these two people could not under any circumstances pursue the cases dispersed in five districts and do justice with the trial. A dedicated team on its part would be focused and the special court would further make their job easier. Under the existing prosecution set-up, the district government counsels follow the trials with police providing the witnesses and other material evidences. With the trial imminent as charge-sheets were filed, the police brass were in a huddle and consulting in-house legal teams.
Section 25 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and Section 25A of the same permit appointment of special prosecutors. “There is enough precedence available; the CBI, the NIA appoint special prosecutors for
the trials. It is being explored that it can be replicated in this case as well,” said an official.
Besides, the special prosecutors would have a team of serving and retired policemen with sound knowledge of legal framework and working. Process was underway to identify such people who could be roped in for the trial, which is expected to stretch to four-five years, said an official.
The other aspect is of having a special court exclusively for this trial for which the administration and the government would be approached. The reason for this is the anti-dacoity court, which dealt with cases of several at one place. Kanpur had an antidacoity court that has now moved to Kanpur Dehat, which decided the cases of districts bracketed as dacoit-infested.
ADG, Kanpur police zone, Bhanu Bhaskar said the police were preparing to give the trial its best shot. “We will be leaving no stone unturned to achieve the desired result. We will employ the best people, preferably a dedicated team for this trial,” he said.