Encounters violate law, says plea in SC

NEW DELHI: Killing of accused by police under the garb of encounter is a serious violation of rule of law and amounts to “Talibanisation of the country”, a plea filed before the Supreme Court on Friday said seeking CBI probe into the killing of Uttar Pradesh (UP) gangster Vikas Dubey’s aides by the UP Police.

The plea, which was filed by Mumbai based advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay, hours before Dubey was killed in an alleged encounter on Friday morning, also raised concerns that Dubey too would suffer the same fate as his co-accused once the UP police gets his custody.

“..there is every possibility that even accused Vikas Dubey shall be killed by Uttar Pradesh Police like other co-accused once his custody is obtained by Uttar Pradesh Police” the petition stated.

Besides seeking a CBI probe into the encounter killings of the co-accused, Upadhyay also prayed that adequate security should be provided for Dubey so that he can be dealt with as per law.

Upadhyay likened encounter killings to what is depicted in the cop movie ‘Singham’, a tendency, which he submitted, should be nipped in the bud.

“A new tendency is now gaining ground in the rank and file of police machinery of arresting the accused alleged to be involved in heinous crimes and then killing the accused under the guise of encounter and then becoming movie cop ‘Singham’. (It) needs to be nipped in the bud at the earliest to save the country from becoming Taliban”, the plea said.

Dubey was killed in an encounter near Kanpur on Friday morning. The gangster was being brought by the UP Police from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, where he was arrested on Thursday, to Kanpur.