The Supreme Court Wednesday rejected the Gujarat Government’s plea to maintain confidentiality of the final report of the Justice HS Bedi committee on 24 alleged fake encounter cases from 2002 to 2006 in the state and ordered that it be given to petitioners including poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it was Akhtar and veteran journalist BG Verghese, since
dead, who had set the “ball rolling” by filing petitions in the case, and the copies of the panel’s report need to be given to them besides the state government.
The bench, which also comprised Justcies L Nageswara Rao and S K Kaul, made clear however that it was neither accepting nor rejecting the 221-page report of the committee at this stage.
It said it would deal with this aspect later and directed that the parties including the state government file their responses or objections, if any, within four weeks from receiving the report.