The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Monday ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to pay Rs.5 lakh as monetary relief to the family of a man who was killed in a 2009 fake gun battle in Aligarh.
The commission set aside the state government's contention about genuineness of the gun fight on the basis of a magisterial inquiry report.
The NHRC observed that Rakesh, who was killed on Feb 11, 2009, might have been a criminal but police did not have a license to kill him in an extra-judicial manner.
The rights commission asked the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary to submit the compliance report along with proof of payment within eight weeks.
The commission took the cognizance of the incident from complaint of Rakesh's mother and elder brother Viresh.
Rakesh's mother had said her son was picked up by police from the house of their relative on Feb 10, 2009, in the presence of her daughter. When she visited police station in Aligarh, she found Rakesh in the lock-up.
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However, in the inquiry report, police claimed that on Feb 11, the Special Operation Group in-charge received a tip-off that two criminals were standing with a motorcycle near the Mazar Gate of the Civil Court.
On seeing police, they tried to flee towards Jamalpur in Aligarh, using the motorcycle. The pillion rider fired at the chasing police party and a bullet hit the police jeep, the report said.
According to the report, police retaliated in self-defence. Later, police found a man lying injured, who was identified as Rakesh, and sent him to a hospital. However, he was declared dead.
The NHRC, however, found that there was no record produced about the message received by the SOG from police control room. No photograph was taken of the police vehicle allegedly hit by the bullet.
Moreover, the vehicle was sent for mechanical inspection on March 13, 2009, more than a month after the incident.
--Indo-Asian News service
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