Kasauli killing: SC raps HP Govt, seeks report

The Supreme Court on Thursday took the Himachal Pradesh Government to task for encouraging lawlessness following the Kasauli incident where a lady Government official got killed while executing the apex court’s order to seal unauthorised hotels.

Worried about what the future holds if rule of law is allowed to be violated in this manner, a Bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta took the State Government to task and demanded status report on the probe into the death as also on the action taken against illegal hotel premises in the area. The court had last month directed the State to seal 13 hotel premises found to have done unauthorised construction. The next hearing of the case is on May 9.

Upset over the incident, the bench observed, “If people begin to take law into their own hands, continue to construct illegally, and shoot dead anyone who comes to seal or close it on court’s order, then who will go to seal it…It is a huge problem for the future. What are you doing to ensure that there are no illegal constructions? You have to implement the law.”

Advocate General for the state informed that on the day when Assistant Town and Country Planner Shail Bala Sharma was shot dead, a team led by her initially visited Hotel Shivalik. When police officials and other team members were having lunch, Sharma along with two other officials went to the Narayani Guest House whose owner Vijay Kumar killed her on the spot. It was on hearing the gun shots, police rushed to the spot and found the officer lying in a pool of blood. By then, the accused fled into the dense forest adjoining the road.

The state counsel informed that a compensation of Rs five lakh has been announced to the family of the deceased and a reward of Rs one lakh for anyone who helps trace the accused. The bench asked the state how it intended to provide protection to the officers carrying out Court orders. The state submitted that security has been beefed up and an enquiry is currently on to probe the shooting.

Upon learning from a news report that the accused was an ex-employee with state electricity department, it asked the police to enquire whether the hotel was purchased with ill-gotten money.