Hyderabad: Projecting Cyberabad police commissioner V.C Sajjanar as the perpetrator of encounter deaths in the state, the Telangana State Civil Liberties Committee (CLC) on Tuesday filed a public interest litigation at the High Court, urging a CBI investigation into the encounter deaths of the four men accused of raping and killing veterinarian ‘Disha’.
Alleging that Sajjanar resorted to fake encounters to eliminate the accused, and terming it as against rule established by law, Professor Gaddam Laxman, president of CLC, held that the recent encounter created an emergency for a law to regulate the safety of accused or prisoners under judicial custody so as to prevent similar “fake encounters” in the guise of retaliation by the accused.
Apprehending the constitution of special investigation team (SIT) in the same department, that was an extended arm of the state itself, the petitioner said officials as high as ministers hailed the encounter and it cannot be expected that the SIT would speak against a minister or give a finding against a minister’s statements or against its own department’s officers.
Celebrating and greeting the officers with garlands and sweets was a mockery of justice, he said, which would gain momentum and if unchecked, would start a bad precedent. “The modus operandi of resorting to street justice or instant justice has assumed an unmistakable pattern which is reinforced by frequent recurrence,” he said.
Elaborating on the encounter of three young persons in 2008 in Warangal for acid attacks on girls, Laxman mentioned that the same Sajjanar was in charge of the case then, and all three accused were put to death instantly without an iota of homage to law or justice.
The thrust of the PIL was not so much to support the accused but to reinforce the rule of law which was getting regularly disrespected and dispensed with. “Time is not far when police will be habitually resorting to instant justice catering to public outcry,” the petitioner said. “Citizens are given to understand that Article 21 is the soul of the Constitution.” He prayed to the court to register the crime under section 302 IPC against police personnel who took part in the encounter, and to direct the government not to give them auxiliary promotions or gallantry awards.
The state government, the NHRC Chair-man, Sajjanar, and the CBI were made respondents to the PIL.
Meanwhile, another suo-motu PIL was taken up by the High Court based on a letter by Malguri Sudarshan, general secretary of the Telangana High Court Bar Association. He asked for a judicial commission comprising a sitting judge of the High Court to fix responsibility and take action against the police officers guilty of negligence in preventing crimes against children and women.
