The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday has said that a case of murder will not be registered against police officers and personnel involved in the Girdhari Vishwakarma encounter case. The bench then stayed a lower court ruling that had decreed the filing of a murder case till its next order.
A single-judge bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh gave this order on a review petition of the Uttar Pradesh Government.
The revision petition under Section 397 read with Section 401 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) has been filed against the order dated February 25, 2021, passed by Chief Judicial Magistrate, Lucknow Case under Section 156(3) CrPC, Police Station Vibhuti Khand, Lucknow.
The Magistrate order dated February 25, 2021, directed the SHO Hazratganj, District Lucknow to register a case under appropriate sections against Sanjeev Suman, IPS, DCP, East, Lucknow, Chandrashekhar Singh, SHO, Police Station Vibhuti Khand and other police personnel in respect of an incident dated 14/15.02.2021 wherein the accused Girdhari Vishwakarma @ Kanhaiya @ Doctor s/o Daggar, r/o Lakhanpur, Police Station Cholapur, District Varanasi was killed.
Vinod Shahi, A.G.A., submitted that the order passed by the Magistrate is against the facts and law as laid down by Supreme Court in the case of Anil Kumar & others Vs. M.K. Aiyappa, 2013 (10) SCC 705 and T.T. Antony Vs. State of Kerala & others, 2001 (6) SCC 181.
It has further been submitted that the alleged offence has been committed during the course of discharge of public duty by public servants and without sanction from the competent authority an order under Section 156(3) CrPC could not have been passed as per law laid down in the aforesaid two judgments of the Supreme Court.
It is also submitted that from the report of the concerned police station, it is evidently clear that the deceased was killed while he tried to flee from custody of the police personnel after snatching a pistol from one police personnel and firing at them.
It is stated that one bullet hit Chandrashekhar Singh, SHO, Police Station Vibhuti Khand on his chest, but he could escape as he was wearing a bulletproof jacket.
Also Read: Madhya Pradesh HC wants to know why Satna Collector did not comply with its 1979 order
There is also other injured police personnel and in defence, a few bullets were fired at the deceased which hit him and immediately after he was immobilized, he was taken to a nearby hospital, namely Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow where he succumbed to injuries during treatment.
Considering the submissions, it would be appropriate to stay the operation of the impugned order dated February 25, 2021, passed in Case under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. till further orders. The Court has fixed the next date of hearing on March 15.
CRLRL_194_2021-1