Police encounters: No separate laws, but SC and NHRC have laid down strict guidelines

Though there may be no regulation in India towards come upon killings, from time-to-time questions had been raised approximately the credibility and legality of police encounters.

With the Uttar Pradesh police`s Special Task Force (STF) gunning down gangster Atiq Ahmed`s son Asad and every other co-accused withinside the Umesh Pal homicide case on Thursday, the point of interest is returned on extra-judicial killings and whether or not the pointers issued via way of means of courts and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) are being observed.

According to the information given via way of means of the Union Home Ministry in Parliament final year, from January 2017 to January 2022, there had been 655 come upon deaths, with the most quantity of come upon deaths stated from Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh, observed via way of means of different states like Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha and Maharashtra.

The general defence provided in all police encounters is firing in self-defence or in retaliation to incoming gun shots. Under Sections ninety six to 106 of the Indian Penal Code, there are sure instances whilst a dying in a police come upon isn’t counted as an offence in India.

SO, WHAT HAS THE SUPREME COURT SAID ABOUT ENCOUNTERS?

In the 2011 Prakash Kadam vs Ramprasad Vishwanath Gupta case, the Supreme Court located that faux encounters via way of means of the police are not anything however cold-blooded murders, and people committing them have to take delivery of dying sentences, setting them withinside the class of `rarest of uncommon instances`.
“Trigger glad policemen who assume they could kill humans withinside the call of `come upon` and break out with it need to recognise that the gallows wait for them”
In 2012, withinside the Om Prakash vs State of Jharkhand case, the Supreme Court held that extra-judicial killings aren’t prison below our crook justice management gadget and equated them to kingdom-subsidized terrorism. The accused character have to be placed on trial, for which it places the onus at the police to now no longer kill the character however arrest him.
In a judgment on PUCL Vs State of Maharashtra in 2014, the Supreme Court issued a hard and fast of sixteen pointers to be observed withinside the research of deaths following police encounters, which consist of retaining portions of evidence, registering an FIR with none put off, video graphing the autopsy, unbiased research, carrying out a magisterial inquiry.

SC GUIDELINES ON ENCOUNTERS AND STEPS THAT FOLLOW

1. Any intelligence or tip-off concerning crook moves need to be recorded withinside the Case Diary or in a few digital form.

2. An FIR have to be registered in case of an come upon-dying

3. An unbiased research into the come upon need to be performed via way of means of the CID or police group of every other police station.

A forensic group to get better and hold evidentiary material, together with bloodstained earth, hair, fibres and threads, etc, associated with the dying.
Identify scene witnesses and acquire their statements regarding the dying.
To decide the cause, manner, region and time of dying in addition to any sample or exercise which can have introduced approximately the dying.
Fingerprints of the deceased need to be despatched for chemical analysis.
Post-mortem have to be performed via way of means of docs withinside the district sanatorium and the method videographed and preserved.
Tests for gunshot residue and hint steel detection need to be performed.

4. A magisterial inquiry below Section 176 have to perpetually be held in all instances of dying that arise withinside the path of police firing.

5. Information approximately the incident have to be despatched to the NHRC or the State Human Rights Commission, because the case can be.

6. The injured crook/ sufferer need to be supplied clinical resource and his/ her declaration recorded via way of means of the Justice of the Peace or clinical officer.

7. Ensure no put off in sending FIR, diary entries, panchanamas, sketches, etc, to the involved courtroom docket.

8. An research record need to be despatched to the capable courtroom docket below Section 173.

9. In the occasion of dying, the subsequent of relatives of the alleged crook/ sufferer have to be knowledgeable on the earliest.

10. Six-month-to-month statements of all instances wherein deaths have happened in police firing have to be despatched to the NHRC via way of means of kingdom DGPs.

11. If dying takes place via way of means of use of a firearm amounting to an offence below the IPC, disciplinary movement have to be right away initiated and the police employees be positioned below suspension.

12. Compensation to be granted to the dependents of the sufferer who suffered dying in a police come upon.

13. The police officer(s) have to give up his/ her guns for forensic and ballistic analysis.

14. Information approximately the incident have to additionally be despatched to the police officer`s own circle of relatives and the offerings of a lawyer/counselling have to be supplied.

15. No out-of-flip advertising or on the spotaneous gallantry rewards will be bestowed at the involved officials quickly after the incidence.

16. If the own circle of relatives of a sufferer unearths that the above method has now no longer been observed, it could make a criticism to the Sessions Judge.

NHRC GUIDELINES ON ENCOUNTERS

According to the 1997 pointers of the NHRC, all states and Union territories have to comply with the subsequent pointers:

Police station in-price have to accurately sign up records approximately dying in an come upon as quickly as they arrive to recognise approximately it.
Immediate steps need to be taken to analyze the statistics and instances main to the dying of the accused.
Since the police themselves are concerned withinside the come upon, the instances have to be investigated via way of means of an unbiased agency, along with the kingdom CID.
Issues of granting reimbursement to the dependents of the deceased can be taken into consideration in instances finishing in conviction.
An FIR have to be registered below suitable sections of the IPC whilst a criticism is filed towards the police concerning a cognisable case of culpable homicide.
A magisterial enquiry have to be performed in all instances of deaths because of police movement, ideally inside 3 months.
All instances of deaths because of police movement have to be stated to the NHRC via way of means of the Senior Superintendent of Police/Superintendent of Police of the district inside forty eight hours of the incidence of dying.
A 2d record have to be submitted to the NHRC inside 3 months, supplying records concerning the autopsy record, inquest record, findings of the magisterial inquiry and inquiry via way of means of senior police officials.