By IANS
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Monday asked the Gujarat government to explain 21 killings in shootouts involving the state police between 2003 and 2006.
On a petition by Magsaysay Award winner veteran journalist B.G. Verghese seeking a high-level probe into the killings, a bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan issued notice to the central and the state governments.
The bench, which included Justices R.V. Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari, also issued notice to the National Human Rights Commission, soliciting its help in evolving a fail-proof mechanism to ensure that the police do not get away with the wanton killings of the citizens.
Citing the reply of a Gujarat minister to a query in the state assembly, Verghese said the state police had killed a total of 21 people, including 14 Hindus, six Muslims and one Sikh, between 2003 and 2006, allegedly in self-defence during exchange of fire with the victims.
Doubting the authenticity of the police version that they opened fire in self-defence, Verghese said the official records show that six of the victims were already in police custody when the alleged shootouts took place.
“In one case, two policemen seem to have fired six rounds in all to kill the person in custody, brandishing a dummy revolver,” Verghese said in his petition.
He added that those killed were in the age group of 22-37 years and six of them had migrated to Gujarat in search of employment.
In some cases, “it’s not clear if the family members of the victims are even aware of the death of their relatives in a distant land,” Verghese said.
The victims included a woman too.
Meanwhile, another bench of the apex court also issued notice to the Gujarat government on a petition by the mother of Tulsiram Prajapati, who is suspected to have been killed along with Ujjain resident Sohrabbuddin Sheikh and his wife Kausar Bi by a Gujarat police team in November 2005.
Prajapati’s mother Narmada Bai pleaded for a thorough probe into her son’s killing.