Can’t look at one part of the statement and question integrity,” observed the Chief Justice of India while dismissing two petitions seeking removal of former DGP K.L. Gupta from the Justice Chauhan-led Commission probing the 2 July killing of eight policemen at Bikru and subsequent encounter killings of Vikas Dubey and his four associates.
Appearing for Uttar Pradesh government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta highlighted the point made to the press where Gupta commented about the need for a “magisterial inquiry” and that “there is no controversy”.
The CJI asked petitioner Ghanshyam Upadhyay if he felt that the ex-DGP supported the encounter killing. CJI said: “Ex-DGP took a balanced view where he said police found that guilty will be punished. We cannot entertain this based on an apprehension.”
Upadhyay argued that the statement made by K.L. Gupta in Hindi “to present a complete picture” established that having him in the commission will make the inquiry “biased”. The petitioner-inperson advocate Anoop Prakash Awasthi also submitted that the ex-DGP on 10 July had told a news agency “police version must be accepted on face value”.
However, the CJI said, “There is an SC judge and an HC judge also on the panel. The inquiry commission will not be vitiated because of one officer in a trial. Also, you first take the chargesheet and accept it. Accepting doesn’t mean you believe it… A rightminded person who reads the while statement will not believe this man is biased. How can this plea be entertained?”
The Supreme Court was hearing an application filed by Awasthi seeking to reconstitute the enquiry commission set up by the court to probe into the genuineness of the encounter killing of UP gangster Vikas Dubey. Petitioner had urged the top court to replace ex-DGP Gupta with some other ex-DGP from the state, imputing allegations of bias.
Earlier the SC had approved an appointment of a three-member commission headed by Justice B.S. Chauhan along with former Allahabad High Court judge Shashi Kant Agarwal and exDGP K.L. Gupta.
Seeking a report from the commission within two months, the apex court had emphasised “why Dubey was out on bail or parole despite so many criminal cases against him is the single most important factor of the entire matter”.