UP Government suggests names of Retired Judges to head the Commission to be formed to investigate Vikas Dubey’s encounter

Judicial Commission to Investigate the Alleged Encounter

An order was passed yesterday by Chief Justice SA Bobde, and Justices R. Subhash Reddy and AS Bopanna, wherein it directed the State of UP to draft a notification which consists of a list of potential name of Retired Judges of the Supreme Court of India and names of Retired Police Officers, for induction in the Judicial Commission formed to investigate into the alleged encounter of the UP police which killed the criminal Vikas Dubey and his aides. The apex court stated that it was ‘appalled’ that the gangster was released on bail and this reflected the failure of an institution.

Acting upon this order, the UP government submitted the list today which includes the potential names for the head of the Inquiry Commission. The list includes Chief Justices of India TS Thakur and RM Lodha, and former Justices Santosh Hegde, Anil R. Dave, Kurian Joseph, MY Eqbal, AK Patnaik, Vikramjit Sen, HL Gokhale among others.

The Supreme Court of India on Monday rejected the Uttar Pradesh DGP’s (Director General of Police) contention for the court to not order another probe into the killing of gangster Vikas Dubey as it would ‘demoralize’ the police force. However, the SC asked the state government to focus on strengthening the rule of law to ensure that the people of India continue to have faith in the system.

Feared Gangster to a Criminal to a Dead Man

Vikas Dubey was a figure known to be above the law in his city of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, and its neighbouring areas. The gangster turned politician had around 62 criminal cases against him till up to 2020. These cases range from several alleged murders, attempts to murder, robberies, and other charges under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention). He came into the national limelight after he was charged with shooting Santosh Shukla, a state BJP minister inside a police station in 2001 wherein he was acquitted. According to the Special Task Force, Dubey’s animosity and aggression towards Shukla started with a political rivalry between Shukla and Hari Krishna Srivastava, the latter being an associate of Dubey. Since then, he was alleged to commit many more serious crimes. Media reports claim that due to his close political connections, Vikas Dubey had been acquitted for most of his murders, despite the presence of multiple witnesses against him at the scenes.

The Story of the Police Encounter

On 3 July 2020, during an attempt to arrest Dubey and his men, eight policemen were killed, while seven other police officers were injured. The inspector-general of police of Kanpur said that at least 60 men had ambushed the police team of 30 officers. The call records have shown that Dubey was in contact with multiple cops who leaked are alleged to have leaked the information.

UP Police declared him an absconder with a bounty of ₹5 lakh before he was finally arrested on 9 July 2020 in Ujjain. A petition filed in the Supreme Court that night asking for him and a CBI investigation into a series of killings. On 10th July, the vehicle carrying Dubey met with a road accident and overturned. Dubey allegedly snatched a pistol from a policeman and tried to run away, but was ultimately killed by the Uttar Pradesh police.