SC reserves order on plea over judicial commission set up to probe Vikas Dubey encounter

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its order on a petition over inclusion of Justice (retd) BS Chauhan in the judicial commission set up to probe the encounter of history-sheeter Vikas Dubey, the key accused in the killing of eight cops in Kanpur.

During the hearing today, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde asked the petitioner advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay why he was alleging that Justice BS Chouhan, who is heading the commission, has "relatives in the BJP and hence won't be fair".

"Why can't he be fair? There are judges whose father are MPs... There are judges who have relatives in the Parliament... Are they all not fair judges? Is belonging to party is an illegal act?" CJI Bobde asked.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted before the court that the allegations raised by Upadhyay against the appointment of Justice BS Chauhan in the judicial commission were "derogatory".

Upadhyay said Uttar Pradesh "is becoming a state of the encounters". "They are upsetting the entire legal system. There was an encounter of Rajiv Pandey just a few days ago," he said.

The CJI said the lawyer was now saying irrelevant things.

"There will be thousands of crimes committed in every state. What does that have to do with this Commission?" he asked.

The bench also asked Upadhyay to give list of suggestions in the matter.

The Supreme Court had on July 22 accepted Uttar Pradesh government's suggestion to have Justice Chauhan, a retired Supreme Court judge, head the judicial inquiry commission into the encounter of history-sheeter Vikas Dubey.

Dubey, the main accused in the killing of eight policemen in Kanpur last month, was killed in an encounter by the police after he allegedly tried to run away while being brought to Kanpur from Madhya Pradesh.

( With inputs from ANI )