Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad’s sister has approached the Supreme Court claiming the Uttar Pradesh government and the State Police “responsible” for the deaths of her two brothers and a nephew within a few days apart in April.
Aisha Noori, represented by advocates Somesh Chandra Jha and Amartya A. Sharan, has sought a comprehensive inquiry into the “campaign of extrajudicial killings” orchestrated by the State against her family.
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“The petitioner, who has lost her brothers and nephew in State-sponsored killings, seeks a comprehensive inquiry by a committee headed by a retired judge of this Court or in the alternative by an independent agency,” the petition urged.
Ms. Noori has arraigned the Union, Uttar Pradesh and the State’s Additional Director General of Police, Special Task Force, as respondents.
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“The police authorities are enjoying the full support of the U.P. government, which appears to have granted them complete impunity to kill, arraign, arrest and harass members of the petitioner’s family as part of a vendetta,” the petition said.
She has contended that an “effective investigation” into the deaths, especially when the State was involved, was her fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution.
She said a “piecemeal inquiry” would fail to net the “higher authorities” responsible for the “authorising, planning and coordination” of the killings.
“In order to deter the government from continuing with its unconstitutional programme of terror and to restore the rule of law in the State, it is essential that an agency independent of the government carries out an across-the-board inquiry, which can evaluate the role played by high-level State agents who have planned and orchestrated the campaign targetting the petitioner’s family,” the petition submitted.
SC poser to U.P. govt.
On April 28, the apex court had asked the Uttar Pradesh Police to explain why Atiq Ahmad and his brother were “paraded” when taken for medical examination to a hospital on the day they were shot to death at point-blank range in full view of TV cameras by assailants posing as journalists.
The court had further asked how the assassins knew the brothers would be brought to the Motilal Nehru Divisional hospital in Prayagraj on April 15.
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The State had sought to link the murders with the family’s criminal past. An Inquiry Commission with two former High Court Chief Justices and another judge had been constituted by the State. A Special Investigation Team was formed to probe the murders.
The court had directed the State to file a comprehensive affidavit detailing the steps taken by the Uttar Pradesh government to inquire into the killings of Ahmad, his brother Ashraf, son Asad and an associate.
Petitioner-advocate Vishal Tiwari, who claimed there was a “pattern” emerging in these deaths, had sought an independent committee headed by a retired apex court judge to look into 183 encounters that had taken place in Uttar Pradesh since 2017.
