Questioning the Uttar Pradesh government, a bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde said the court was “appalled” that a person with so many cases against him was released on bail, adding, “this shows the failure of the system”.
New Delh, July 20:
The Supreme Court said on Monday that it was strange how Vikas Dubey was out on bail despite having several cases against him. The Supreme Court was hearing a batch of petitions seeking court-monitored probe into the encounters of Vikas Dubey and his alleged associates.
Questioning the Uttar Pradesh government, a bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde said the court was “appalled” that a person with so many cases against him was released on bail, adding, “this shows the failure of the system”.
“We are appalled to the fact that a person like Vikas Vikas Dubey got the bail despite so many cases and he eventually did this [killed eight policemen in an ambush]. This shows the failure of the system and the person, who should have been behind the bars, got bail,” CJI Bobde observed.
The bench has also asked for all previous decisions related to Vikas Dubey’s bail. “It is not only one incident that is at stake. What is at stake is the whole system,” the CJI said.
The Supreme Court told the Uttar Pradesh government that they have to “uphold rule of law”. “You as a state have to uphold the rule of law. It is your duty to do so,” the top court said.
The Supreme Court Monday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to consider adding a former apex court judge and a retired police officer in the inquiry committee which is probing the encounter of gangster Vikas Dubey. Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government has agreed to reconstitute the committee.
Vikas Dubey had around 60 cases against him, including eight of murder involving the killing of at least 15 people. In his three-decade criminal career starting in 1990, Dubey faced nine cases of attempts to murder besides two under the NDPS Act, seven under the Gangsters Act, six under the Goonda Act, three under the Arms Act, besides a slew of cases for various other penal offenses.
Eight policemen, including DSP Devendra Mishra, were ambushed in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur when they were going to arrest Dubey and fell to bullets fired from rooftops shortly after midnight on July 3.
After the Kanpur ambush, Vikas Dubey was apprehended from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. He was killed in an encounter in Kanpur on July 10.
The Supreme Court will sit for the hearing on Wednesday when the UP government will produce the draft notification on the judicial inquiry.
