The Delhi High Court has stayed a portion of the National Human Rights Commission’s order, which directed the Delhi Police to pay Rs 7 lakh compensation to the family of undertrial Shahnawaz Ansari, who was shot inside a Bijnor court on December 17, 2019.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad on Tuesday passed the orders on a petition filed by the Delhi Police challenging the NHRC order, which
criticised the Delhi Police for its failure to protect a murder accused, who was shot dead in Bijnor, while attending proceedings at the court of a Chief Judicial Magistrate.
The High Court directed the Delhi Police to implead Uttar Pradesh as a respondent in the matter and adjourned the case to July 18.
The single-judge Bench further said that it would appoint an amicus curiae to assist the court in the matter.
Undertrial Shahnawaz was the main accused in the double murder case of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader and Najibabad-based property dealer Haji Ehsan, and his nephew Shadab.
Shahnawaz, considered to be an aide of gangster Mukhtar Ansari, had surrendered in Delhi. He was lodged in Tihar jail, from where he was taken to Bijnor in connection with a case.
The petitioner apprised the High Court that the Uttar Pradesh Police was responsible for the security of Shahnawaz, adding that the Delhi Police officials accompanying Ansari were unarmed.