By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Hyderabad: High Court of judicature at Hyderabad on Thursday has taken a serious note about police not registering an FIR on the complaint of encounter victims’ families. The Court also directed the Telangana government to file a reply on delay for registering a case on families’ complaint.
Justice Vilas V Afzalpurkar was hearing a writ petition filed by three families of victims of the alleged encounter about 80 kms from here wherein five under trial youth were killed last week.
Mohammed Ahmed, father of Viquar Ahmed, along with two other families filed a petition in the Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday seeking directions to the Telangana government to order a probe by the CBI, to register a case under 302 (murder) of IPC and to exhume the dead bodies for re-post-mortem.
Five under trials, accused in terror cases – namely Mohammed Viqaruddin, Amjed Ali, Mohammed Haneef, Riyaz Khan and Izhar Khan – were shot dead on April 7 while they were being shifted from Warangal prison to Hyderabad criminal court for a trial. Police claimed to have opened fire when the accused tried to snatch a weapon from a policeman in the running vehicle between Aler and Jangaon, about 80 km from Hyderabad, in an area bordering Warangal and Nalgonda districts. However, their families, lawyers and civil rights activists find the police version questionable and have termed it as a ‘revenge’ and ‘retaliation’ against the death of cops in another encounter few days earlier.
When counsel for the family Advocate V Raghunath initiated his argument going into the details of the encounter incident, Jutsice Afzalpurkar said he knows well about the case and asked the Counsel to move on writs prayer and point of contention.
During the hearing, Advocate Raghunath argued that in spite of Ahmed giving a complaint on his son’s death, police is not registering a case. Moreover, families were not allowed in the hospital during post mortem, which totally went under police supervision, even the inquest on the bodies was not prepared by a magistrate but by another low ranking officer.
Advocate Raghunath presented before the court that there is an urgency to exhume the bodies for repost mortem and an immediate order is required.
Government pleader of Home department vehemently contested families’ allegations and argued that the dead bodies were handed over to the families at the hospital itself immediately after proper post mortem. He also argued that as Special Investigation Team has already been formed and they are about to take up the investigation, so it will be improper on the part of the court to interfere at such an initial stage.
On the question of another post-mortem, the government pleader protested saying any move of this kind will create an outburst and law and order situation for the government.
Justice Afzalpurkar not going under the question of SIT investigation asked him why a case is not booked even after complaint by the effected party: “Any complaint which is of cognizable offence, you are bound to register it,” the judge said.
GP asked for two weeks’ time to file the home department’s counter to the writ prayers. Counsel for the families objected to any undue delay and pleaded for hearing on a day-to-day basis. Justice Afzalpurkar giving ample time to the government to file its reply, posted the matter for next week on April 23.
Advocate Raghunath told TwoCircles.net that they are hopeful of getting some kind of relief in the form of an interim order in the next hearing.
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