SC pulls up Himachal Pradesh administration for officer's murder in Kasauli, says it will stop passing orders 'if you kill people'

The Supreme Court took cognisance on its own of the firing incident in Kasauli on Tuesday evening, where a woman government official was shot dead, allegedly by a hotel owner, after she had gone to seal an unauthorised construction in his property.

A bench comprising justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta termed the incident as "extremely serious", and noted that government officials had gone there to comply with the apex court's direction to seal unauthorised constructions.

Assistant town and country planner Shailbala Sharma had gone to seal unauthorised constructions in Kasauli's Narayani guest house where its owner Vijay Singh allegedly shot at her. She later succumbed to injuries.

"We might stop passing any orders if you are going to kill people," the bench observed after the issue was mentioned before it.

The bench, while taking suo-moto cognisance of the incident, said the matter be placed before Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra for assigning it before an appropriate bench on Thursday.

The apex court also questioned as to what the police team, which had accompanied government officials during the sealing drive was doing when the hotel owner allegedly shot at the woman.

The counsel representing Himachal Pradesh informed the bench that the accused had fled from the spot after opening fire at government officials and besides the deceased, an official of the Public Works Department was also injured in the incident.