NHRC notice to UP govt, DGP over 'encounter' of 'gangster'

The NHRC has sent a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and its police chief over reports of a man recently killed in an alleged fake encounter in Greater Noida.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today said it has issued the notice to the state's chief secretary and the director general of police (DGP), and sought a report in four weeks.
According to the media reports, Sumit Gurjar, an alleged gangster, was killed by the police on October 3.
The family members of the deceased have alleged that he was killed in a "staged encounter" after the police picked up him from a market, the NHRC said in a statement.

The family members along with villagers had protested near the mortuary at Sector-94 against the police action and had also blocked traffic at the Mahamaya Flyover for about 45 minutes, the NHRC said quoting from media reports.
"Elimination of a criminal in such an unlawful manner can never send a good message to a civilised society. As has been emphasised time and again, the police do not have the right to take away life of a human being. It is not the lawful way to deal with the criminals," the rights panel said.

The Commission has observed that the allegations levelled by the family members and the villagers, if true, "raise serious issue of violation of human rights" of the deceased and the aggrieved family.

"According to the reports, Gurjar was wanted in a case of double murder and robbery. He had been taken into custody by the Noida police, but no satisfactory answer was given by the police officers. It was only when the television broke the news that his family members came to know about his encounter," the NHRC said.
Reportedly, the police authorities have denied the allegations of a fake encounter. The personnel of Kasna and Bisrakh police stations have claimed that he was "shot dead in an encounter in which his three accomplices managed to escape".
According to the senior superintendent of police of Gautam Budh Nagar, a "fair investigation into the matter will be conducted", it said.

The Commission has already issued guidelines to deal with matters relating to death in police encounter, which have been circulated through a letter written in May 2010, by the chairperson of the NHRC to the chief ministers of all states and the union territories.