About:
- Former Supreme Court judge, H.S. Bedi submitted a report submitted in the Supreme Court in late February 2018. The report looks into the 17 cases of suspected fake police encounters, all of which occurred between 2002 and 2006 when Narendra Modi was Chief Minister.
- Now, a Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, decided to put the report in the public domain.
Key Highlights of the report:
- Of the 17, Justice Bedi has sought further trial against police officers concerned in only three cases of fake encounters by Gujarat Police.
- These are the cases of killings of Sameer Khan in 2002, “smuggler” Haji Ismail in 2005 and Kasam Jafar of Mumbai.
- The police version was that, Sameer Khan had been sent by the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), to assassinate the then Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi.
- He said he recommended trial against police officers whose versions tended to be “deeply suspicious” or in the cases in which there was a “reasonable chance of conviction.”
- He has ordered a compensation of ₹10 lakh to ₹14 lakh to the families of the victims.
- Other cases in which he has recommended no further action deal with violent robberies gone fatal and suspects trying to escape police custody but ending up dead in shootouts with the police trying to defend themselves.
- However, there is no adverse finding against Mr. Modi, public servants or senior police officers.
