Plea for judicial commission to probe encounter killings

The Madras High Court today dismissed a PIL seeking to appoint a judicial commission headed by a retired judge to probe the encounter killings in Tamil Nadu and said the aggrieved persons could avail remedy under Human Rights Commission Act.
The First Bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice T S Sivagnanam, while dismissing the PIL by Henri Tiphange, Executive Director of NGO People's Watch, said "we are of the view that such a petition is general in nature and seeking to set up a separate mechanism under a retired judge of the High Court would not be appropriate when we have Human Rights Commission, both at the Centre and state levels."

The petitioner submitted that to "arrive the truth" in encounter deaths, a judicial commission headed by a retired judge was needed and sought for a direction to award compensation to families of victims killed in police encounters.
He also sought a direction from the Court to initiate inquiry and take disciplinary action against police officers involved in encounter killings and also withdraw gallantry awards and other recognition, if awarded to such officers.
Stating that state Legal Services Authority is always helping economically and socially aggrieved persons, the bench said "we are of the view that if there are aggrieved persons, they may avail the remedy under Human Rights Commission Act rather than approaching this Court seeking to set up a judicial commission to look into the issue of alleged encounter killings in Tamil Nadu.