The apex court of the country has refused to entertain a special leave petition in the case of jailbreak and subsequent killing of eight SIMI undertrials in a police encounter in 2016.
The apex court disposed the plea filed by Mehmooda Mohamad Salim Muchhale— a relative of one of those killed in the encounter— seeking independent probe into the incident. A three-judge Supreme Court bench on August 18 said that there is no point entertaining such a plea.
The bench comprising Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Navin Sinha and Justice KM Joseph said that the report of the one member commission which was headed by a retired High Court judge is sufficient.
The bench said that “enquiry report of retired High Court judge has come in. The report is negative. In view of the report of the commission of enquiry which has been brought on record, we are inclined not to interfere in the special leave petition.”
On the midnight of October 31, 2016 eight SIMI undertrials detained in Bhopal Central Jail ran away from the prison after killing the security guard. The fugitives were killed in an encounter by police next day morning on the outskirts of Bhopal when they were trying to escape.
The incident attracted huge media attention and nationwide reaction as many believed that the under trials were killed in a cold blooded encounter. The counsel appearing for the petitioner claimed in the court that the accused had not fired at the policeman and was killed despite wanting to surrender.
The petitioner had alleged in his special leave petition that the killing of eight persons required an independent enquiry as it was a case of extrajudicial killing. The petitioner went to supreme court after the Madhya Pradesh High Court refused to entertain a similar plea.