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ITEM NO.6 COURT NO.1 SECTION PIL-W

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Writ Petition(s)(Criminal) No(s). 348/2019

G.S.MANI & ANR. Petitioner(s)

VERSUS

UNION OF INDIA & ORS. Respondent(s)

(FOR ADMISSION and IA No.189604/2019-PERMISSION TO APPEAR AND

ARGUE IN PERSON )

WITH
W.P.(Crl.) No. 355/2019 (PIL-W)
(FOR ADMISSION and IA No.191272/2019-PERMISSION TO APPEAR AND
ARGUE IN PERSON)
W.P.(Crl.) No. 347/2019 (PIL-W)
(FOR ADMISSION and IA No.189498/2019-PERMISSION TO APPEAR AND
ARGUE IN PERSON)

Date :12-12-2019 This petition was called on for hearing today.

CORAM :
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. ABDUL NAZEER
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJIV KHANNA

For Petitioner(s) Mr. G.S. Mani,in-person

In WP(Crl.)348/2019

WP(Crl.)355/2019 Mr. Manohar Lal Sharma, In Person

WP(Crl.) 347/2019 Mr. Mukesh Kumar Sharma, In Person

For Respondent(s) Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, Sr. Adv.

Mr. J Ramchander Rao, AAG
Mr. S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, Adv.
Mr. P. Mohith Rao, Adv.
Ms. Swati Bhardwaj, Av.
Signature Not Verified
Mr. Muthu T., Adv.
Digitally signed by
CHARANJEET KAUR
Date: 2019.12.12
20:22:08 IST
Reason: Ms. Uttara Babbar, Adv.
Ms. Bhavana Duhoon, Adv.
Mr. Manan Bansal, Adv.
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UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following

O R D E R

Issue notice.

Counsel for respondent Nos. 2, 3 and 4 in Writ Petition

(Criminal) No. 348 of 2019 are present in the Court today and

service of notice is, therefore, waived.

On 28th November 2019, in an incident in Hyderabad in the

State of Telangana, a young veterinary doctor was raped, murdered

and her dead body burnt. Four persons, namely, Mohammed Arif,

Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu, Jolu Shiva and Jollu Naveen, were

arrested in connection with the said offence. The occurrence had

ignited public furore and it appears that a gathering of about 40-

50 thousand persons had demanded custody of the aforesaid persons

to do justice. It also appears that in view of the surcharged

atmosphere the four accused persons were sent to judicial custody.

Subsequently, on 4th December 2019, police custody of the

four accused for ten days was ordered.

It is the case of the Police that on 6th December 2019

they had taken the four accused to the scene of crime with a view

to recover certain articles belonging to the deceased rape victim

and for reconstructing the scene of crime. What happened

thereafter is the subject matter of the present writ petitions.

As per the police version, the four accused had snatched

fire arms form the accompanying police personnel and had fired at
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them. It is submitted by Shri Mukul Rohatgi, learned senior

advocate, that the Police had no option but to defend themselves

against the use of fire arms and from stones etc. used by the

accused. The accused persons, it is alleged, refused to surrender

and, therefore, the police had no option but to fire to save

themselves and prevent the accused from escaping. In view of the

retaliatory firing, all the four accused got killed.

Shri Mukul Rohatgi states that the aforesaid encounter is

being examined by the Revenue Divisional Officer and Sub-Divisional

Magistrate, Shadnagar, in terms of magisterial inquiry under

Section 176 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the State

Government has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by

the Commissioner of Police to inquire and investigate into the

offence. Once the SIT submits a report, further action as per law,

if required, will be taken.

After the encounter, FIR No. 803 of 2019 has been

registered under Sections 307, 224, 394, 332 read with Section 34

of the Indian Penal Code, 25(1-B)(a) and 27 of the Arms Act, and

under Section 174 read with Section 176 of the Code of Criminal

Procedure, 1973. This is rather odd, as it is obvious that no

prosecution is contemplated against dead persons who can neither be

tried nor convicted. The SIT has been constituted to investigate

into the offences mentioned in the FIR, though one of the clauses

states that the SIT would also investigate the cause of the death

of the four accused persons.

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Keeping in view all the peculiarities of the case, it is

desirable and necessary to know the truth relating to the incident

which has resulted in death of all the four accused persons when

they were in custody of the police pursuant to an order passed by

the Court. In other words, police was given custody of the four

accused persons under a Court order. The death had occurred when

the accused were in custody of law.

We are, therefore, of the considered view that an Inquiry

Commission needs to be constituted for inquiring into the

circumstances in which the four accused persons, namely, Mohammed

Arif, Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu, Jolu Shiva and Jollu Naveen,

were killed in Hyderabad on 6th December 2019. The Inquiry

Commission shall be headed by Mr. Justice V.S. Sirpurkar (Retd.), a

former Judge of this Court, as Chairman and shall comprise of Ms.

R.P. Sondurbaldota, a former Judge of the Bombay High Court, and

Mr. D.R. Karthikeyan, former Director of the Central Bureau of

Investigation as its Members. The Commission shall have all the

powers of a Commission under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952.

The Commission shall hold its sittings at a suitable

place in Hyderabad to be provided by the State Government. The

Commission shall submit its report within a period of six months

from the date of first hearing in the matter. The Chairman of the

Inquiry Commission shall fix the first date of hearing at

Hyderabad. All arrangements towards travel, boarding and lodging

of the Chairman and Members of the Commission shall be provided by

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the State of Telangana. Adequate security shall be provided to

the Commission by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

Secretarial assistance will be chosen by the Chairman of the

Commission and provisions will be made by the State Government in

this regard. Shri K. Parameshwar, Adv. shall be the Commission’s

counsel.

It is made clear that no other Court or authority shall

inquire into this matter pending the Commission of Inquiry

constituted hereinabove until further orders of this Court.

However, the orders passed by the High Court pertaining to the

preservation of the dead body of the four accused persons shall

continue until further orders of this Court.

A suggestion was made at the hearing that the Media be

restrained from giving publicity to the proceedings before the

Commission of Inquiry and from making comments on the Inquiry or in

relation to the Inquiry. Shri Rohatgi very fairly stated that

though it may be desirable that certain things are not said pending

the inquiry or relating to the participants of the inquiry, it

would be appropriate to hear the Media before passing any order in

this regard.

We, accordingly, consider it appropriate to issue notice

to the Press Trust of India and the Press Council of India, who

represent the electronic and print media in the country. The

notice is returnable in four weeks.

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The investigation being conducted by the SIT constituted

by the State Government would continue.

Shri Manohar Lal Sharma, Advocate, is granted liberty to

file an application to implead Press Trust of India in Writ

Petition (Criminal) No. 355 of 2019.

[ CHARANJEET KAUR ] [ INDU KUMARI POKHRIYAL ]

A.R.-CUM-P.S. ASSTT. REGISTRAR