Telangana encounter inquiry delayed by pandemic lockdown

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court's inclination to set up a inquiry panel headed by a retired SC Judge to probe encounter killings of gangster Vikas Dubey and his four associates could delay a finding as the apex court appointed Telangana encounter probe panel headed by an ex-SC Judge has made little progress because of restriction on movement of senior citizens.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde thought of repeating the example it had set in December last year to set up a three member panel headed by 74-year-old former SC Judge V S Sirpurkar, 65-year-old Rekha Baldota and 84-year-old former CBI Director D R Karthikeyan. The court had asked the panel to submit the inquiry report within six months of its first meeting, which took place in February.
Immediately after the meeting, the panel got into work and had received over 1,400 affidavits from general public and witnesses regarding the encounter killing of four men, who were accused of gangrape and murder of a veterinarian last year. "Of the total affidavits, around 1,300 support the police encounter. But, we have to study the affidavits and examine the material witnesses, which requires extensive field work and on the sport inquiry. This is not possible since all of us are above 65 years of age who have been asked not to venture out during Covid-19 pandemic," Justice Sirpurkar told TOI.
Justice Sirpurakar, who was a Judge in SC from January 2007 till August 2011, said since the committee members have not been able to meet because of Covid related travel restrictions on senior citizens, the inquiry is delayed. "The panel's counsel will move the Supreme Court seeking extension of time beyond August for completion of the inquiry, which would require cross-examination of witnesses who have filed affidavits and on-spot visit as well as interaction with members of public, various officials and policemen," he said.
"We will also have to closely scrutinise the medical and ballistic reports. All these cannot be done through video conferencing," he said.
If the SC sets up an inquiry panel on the line of the Telangana model, as it was loudly thinking on Tuesday, it would be headed by a retired SC judge, who would be over 65 years of age and hence would be bound by the lockdown advice to senior citizens to stay home and not venture out.