HC junks PIL for probe into killing of 39 Indians in Iraq

The Delhi High Court today dismissed a PIL by a lawyer seeking "detailed investigation" into alleged lapses by the Centre in saving 39 Indians, who were killed by terror outfit ISIS in Iraq in 2014, saying there was "no public interest" in the matter.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said the plea reflected "extreme insensitivity" towards the kin of victims and the suffering they underwent and also does not take into account steps taken by the central government to save 39 Indians.

Observing that such pleas deserve "condemnation" and "need to be discouraged", the court imposed Rs one lakh as costs on the petitioner-lawyer, Mehmood Pracha, who was asked to deposit the amount in favour of the advocates welfare fund within four weeks.

Pracha, in his plea, had contended that the Centre was aware long back that the Indians had been killed by the terror outfit after their abduction from Mosul, but had chosen not to disclose it and kept taking the stand that they were alive.