NEW DELHI: The Uttar Pradesh government and the director general of police has received notices by the National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) of India over reports that a youth was shot dead in an alleged “fake encounter” by the state police in Muzaffarnagar and sought a report in four weeks.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in its statement said that it is a solemn duty of the police force to protect the people and “not to create an atmosphere of fear under the garb of dealing with crime.”
“Any death caused in an encounter, if not justified, would amount to an offence of culpable homicide, The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report which said that 20-year old youth Irshad Ahmad of Muzaffarnagar district was shot dead in an alleged fake encounter by the Uttar Pradesh Police on November 27. Reportedly, his father has said that his son had no criminal history and was killed in cold blood in a fake encounter,” the rights panel said.
The commission has observed that the content of the news report, if true, raises a serious issue of violation of human rights of the victim and his family.
Recently a 21-year-old man was killed in police firing in Meerut. The police claim they opened fire when the victim along with four other persons in their vehicle were smuggling cattle and had not stopped when asked for checking. While one was shot dead others escaped said the police.
However, the victim’s father and the fellow villagers have denied the police’s claim, saying the victim did not even know how to drive,” it said.
The victim was identified as Irshaad a Muzaffarnagar resident. The Police said a sub-inspector was also shot in his arm in the firing. The Police has filed an FIR against the four unidentified men after the injured Sub-Inspector Om Prakash Arya filed a complaint.