New Delhi: The Supreme Court today reserved its order on a plea seeking to disband the Justice (Retd) BS Chauhan-led enquiry commission in the Vikas Dubey encounter case.
The bench of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and Justices A.S. Bopanna and Justice V. Ramasubramanian was hearing the plea filed by Advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay, who has submitted that since the family members of the retired judge have political connections, the enquiry led by the Justice Chauhan will not be fair and transparent.
Justice Chauhan’s brother is an MLA in UP and his daughter is married to an MP.
Upadhyay today submitted that articles in various publications had raised questions about the Inquiry.
The Chief Justice, however, said: “We will not cast aspersions on a former judge of this court on the basis of a newspaper interview.”
He further questioned Upadhyay: “Are any of the relatives connected with the incident or the inquiry? Why can’t he be fair? There are judges whose father / brother are MPs. Are you saying they are all biased judges? Is belonging to a political party an illegal act?”
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, on the other hand, submitted that the allegations raised by Upadhyay against the appointment of Justice BS Chauhan in the judicial commission were “derogatory”.
Upadhyay thereafter submitted that “UP is becoming a state of encounters. They are upsetting the entire legal system. Rajiv Pandey was encountered by the UP Police just a few days ago.”
The Chief Justice, while reserving the order, said that Upadhyay was stating irrelevant things. There will be thousands of crimes committed in every state. However, that has nothing to do with the enquiry commission.
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On July 22, the Supreme Court directed the Judicial Commission headed by Retd Justice BS Chauhan to probe into the alleged killing of the 8 policemen and the subsequent encounter of gangster Vikas Dubey.
-India Legal Bureau