'Who Will Police The Police?' Allahabad High Court Denies Bail To 2 UP Cops In Bikru Encounter Conspiracy Case

The Allahabad High Court today denied bail to two UP Police officials, SO Vinay Kumar Tiwari & Beat Officer Krishna Kumar Sharma, who are facing conspiring charges in connection with the ambush in Bikru village on July 3, 2020, in which eight policemen were gunned down by Gangster Vikas Dubey.The Court started with the famous statement made by Justice VR Krishna Iyer "Who will police the police" 40 years ago in a judgment."About 40 years have passed, but, that question is still there with a bigger question mark", the Court observed. The Bench of Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava observed that it is not an unknown phenomenon that there are policemen, maybe very few in numbers, who show their loyalty more to such gangsters than to their department for the reasons best known to them. "Such policemen tarnish the image, name, and fame of police and it is necessary that suspicious police personnel should be taken to task and their conduct should be regularly monitored for which a mechanism should be evolved, and if it exists already, the same should be geared up at different levels," the Court further added. The case against the accused-applicants The accused applicants Vinay Kumar Tiwari and K.K. Sharma have been booked under sections 147, 148, 149, 302, 307, 504, 506, 353, 332, 333, 396, 412, 120B, 34 IPC, section 7 of Criminal Law Amendment Act, and section ¾ of Explosive Substances Act. It has been alleged that under a conspiracy, they leaked information of police raid to Dubey and gave them an opportunity to remain in preparedness and also, both of them did not render due support to police personnel, nor informed the police force regarding their preparedness to effectively counter the raid and they're being equipped with sophisticated firearms. The accusation against the accused applicants is that they had a close friendly relationship with the gangster Vikas Dubey who and the members of his gang were running organized criminal activities of all sorts and was residing and flourishing within the local jurisdiction of the police station in which both the applicants were posted. The IO has examined several witnesses and they have stated about the close relationship of the applicants with the gangster Vikas Dubey and gang. Submissions made before the Court The State submitted that Vikas Dubey had given a statement to the IO before his death that he had prior information about the raid. On the basis of a study of CDR, the State argued that on the date of the incident, prior to the incident, the accused persons contacted each other and this call pattern is exceptional in the last one month as this type of communication between them was unique. It was also contended that several calls were made to Dubey by the accused, before the incident. Importantly, it was also argued that accused-applicant K.K. Sharma, gave information to the gangster and was working as an agent to the aid and assistance of the gangster, and that it is why he kept himself in the police station deliberately on the day of the raid. Lastly, it was submitted that at no point in time, applicant Vinay Tiwari along with the members of his team responded to provide any backup to the team. Court's observations At the outset, the Court observed that it was clear that the accused, who were posted in the same police station could not have any professional relationship with the gangster and his men, and communication on mobile with him is certainly a relevant circumstance that can be considered during the trial. Further, the court opined that the nature of offence and amount of culpability is serious, heinous, shocking, and unprecedented and also added thus: "It is also evident that the main accused persons had prior information of the police raid and naturally, in the present set of facts, this information was revealed by police which not only 30 made the main accused persons alert but also provided them fullest opportunity to prepare for attack and commit such a horrendous crime in which 8 police personnel including the Circle Officer sustained gunshot injuries and died. The situation of crime was such and so sudden that the police force could not get opportunity to sustain and counter and could do nothing. The accusation against the accused-applicants is that they conspired with the main accused for the commission of the offence because of their good relationship and loyalty with main accused and also they wanted to score their personal grudge with the Circle Officer." Lastly, to arrive at the conclusion of dismissing their bail plea, the court took into account the following: The magnitude of the crime and the preparedness on the part of gangster Vikas Dubey and his associates; The statement of Vikas Dubey given to the IO before his death that he had prior information about the raid; The conduct of the accused-applicants before and during...

'Who Will Police The Police?' Allahabad High Court Denies Bail To 2 UP Cops In Bikru Encounter Conspiracy Case

Sparsh Upadhyay

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