Badlapur 'encounter': HC slams SIT for no FIR against five cops

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday slammed the crime branchs Special Investigation Team for not registering an FIR against five policemen for the alleged encounter killing of Badlapur sexual assault case accused Akshay Shinde noting it was a very sorry state of affairsAfter the HC sternly observed that it would be constrained to initiate contempt proceedings public prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar assured the court that an FIR would be registered by the SIT by Saturday May 3A bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale accepted Venegaonkars assuranceOn April 7 the HC ordered the crime branchs joint commissioner Lakhami Gautam to form a special investigation team to probe the death of Shinde and register an FIR against the five policemen indicted in a magistrates inquiry report for Shindes deathLast week the high court strongly criticised the state Criminal Investigation Department CID which was initially probing the case for not handing over the case papers to the SITPursuant to this the CID on April 25 handed over all the papers to the SITOn Wednesday when HC questioned if FIR was registered public prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar replied in the negativeIrked by the reply the bench said that when there was a cognizable offence made out the police ought to have applied their mind and registered the FIRThere is a responsibility cast on the police Do not let public faith in the system down There is a dead body It is an unnatural death What more revelation do you want to lodge FIR HC questionedThe bench said in the absence of noncompliance of its order it would be constrained to initiate contempt proceedingsThis is pure scuttling of directives of this court We are not satisfied This is a very sorry state of affairs We are now constrained to issue contempt the bench remarked and asked the SIT to show some dedication and take the matter to its logical conclusionShinde 24 accused of sexually assaulting two kindergarten girls at a school in Badlapur in Thane district was shot dead inside a police van on September 23 2024 while being taken to Kalyan from Taloja prison for probe in another caseThe escorting police team claimed they shot him in selfdefence after he snatched the gun of one of the officials and opened fire His parents though alleged he was killed in a fake encounter and filed a petition in the high court seeking an independent probeAn inquiry report by a magistrate indicted the five policemen stating there was substance in the claim that it was a fake encounterThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeveratOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params