Atiq Ahmeds sister urges Supreme Court to direct probe in state-sponsored killing of brothers nephew

The gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf Ahmed’s sister, who was gunned down while he was in a police custody in Uttar Pradesh, has moved Apex Court asking for a probe headed by a retired judge to look into the state-sponsored killing’ of the duo.

The complaint has also been made on the encounter of Atique’s son and her nephew by the police.

Advocate Vishal Tiwary also had also filed a petition that remains pending before the apex court seeking an independent inquiry into the killings of the Ahmad brothers, which was caught on live television, and 183 other encounter killings in the State of UP since 2017.

A comprehensive affidavit has been asked by the Apex Court from the Uttar Pradesh government on the steps taken to enquire into the killings, besides seeking information on the inquiry into the encounter killings of the other accused in the Umesh Pal murder case, including Atique Ahmed’s son Asad.

The petition was filed through advocates Somesh Chandra Jha and Amartya Ashish Sharan, Aisha Noori – the sister of Atique and Ashraf – has also sought an independent probe into the ‘custodial and extra-judicial killings’ of the petitioner’s brothers, as well as other members of the petitioner’s family all of which occurred just a few days apart from each other, in order to apprehend the ‘high-level state agents’ who have allegedly orchestrated a campaign to “kill, arraign, arrest, and harass” members of her family as a part of a ‘vendetta’.

The respondents are been made responsible for the deaths. The police authorities look to be enjoying the full support of the Uttar Pradesh 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 states that the deaths of the petitioner’s family members and other persons are connected parts of a vicious, arbitrary, and unlawful campaign by the Government of Uttar Pradesh.

The petition states that in the absence of such a comprehensive and independent inquiry, the rights of the petitioner and her family members under Article 21 of the Constitution would stand violated.

The petition also speaks
above the fundamental right to life under Article 21, stressing that it cast a positive procedural obligation on State authorities to effectively investigate to into the deaths.

Noori also asked that a piecemeal inquiry that only looks at singular encounters that have taken place during the campaign will fail to bring home the responsibility of the higher authorities who are ultimately responsible for killing of the petitioner’s family members.

 Furthermore, it would put the blame for the deaths on the officers present on the spot in each case rather than the authorities who are responsible for authorising, planning and coordinating such acts.

If liability is fastened only on lower-level officers and not against the persons ultimately responsible for killing the petitioner’s relatives, there would be no deterrent effect on the state government, Noori has argued. In support of her prayer for a probe headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India, the petitioner has stated:

“In order to deter the respondent government from continuing with its unconstitutional program of terror and to restore the rule of law in the state, it is essential that an agency independent of the said 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 targeting the petitioner’s family members.”

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