Police encounter in Bihar: Plea in SC seeks CBI probe, constitution of expert committee
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking the constitution of an independent expert committee under the chairmanship of a former apex court judge to inquire into the alleged “extra-judicial killing” of Bharat Bhushan Tiwari in a police encounter in Bihar.
The plea has also sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), claiming the case warrants a prompt, independent and impartial investigation.
The killing of Tiwari, a resident of Bilauti village in Bihar’s Bhojpur district, on June 17, has triggered a row with his family, claiming that he had surrendered and discarded his weapon before being fatally shot by the police. The Bihar Government had on Saturday announced a judicial inquiry into the incident.
On Monday, advocate Vishal Tiwari, who has filed the plea, mentioned the matter for urgent listing before a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Joymalya Bagchi.
“Mention before the registrar,” the bench told Tiwari. In his plea, Tiwari has said that in a democratic society, the police cannot be allowed to become a punishing authority, as this power is only vested in the judiciary.
Referring to the Bihar incident, the petition said it has triggered a debate over police procedures and the use of force during encounters.
“The incidents of extra-judicial killings have increased in the past few years, which is a big challenge to the rule of law,” the plea said, claiming that recently, police encounters have increased sharply across Bihar. It claimed that the killing of Tiwari appeared to be “suspicious”.
It referred to a 2014 apex court verdict, which had issued a slew of guidelines to be followed in matters of investigating police encounters which have led to death or grievous injury.
The plea said, “Fake encounters or deaths/murder of accused in police custody/jail weakens the rule of law, and if these killings will be justified by saying that the killed accused was a gangster or having antecedents of criminal cases, then it would be leading the society towards the law of ‘eye for an eye’”.
The plea has also sought a direction to the Centre to issue an advisory to all the chief secretaries of States to comply with the directions and guidelines laid down by the top court in its 2014 verdict.
An injured Tiwari died while being taken to the Patna Medical College and Hospital for treatment.
While the initial police Statement on Tuesday described Tiwari as reportedly being “mentally unsound”, others, including the family members, described him as a public activist who consistently raised local issues before the administration.
The police Statement mentioned that Tiwari persistently fired at police, prompting retaliatory firing in “self-defence” during which he sustained a bullet injury in his leg.
