A bench of justices Markandeya Katju and C K Prasad said that fake encounter killings is cold blooded brutal murder. The apex court said that as custodians of law police were expected to protect people and not eliminate them as contract killers.
The court made these observations while directing the surrender of two senior Rajasthan IPS officers Additional DGP Arvind Jain and SP Arshad allegedly involved in the fake encounter killing of an alleged gangster Dara Singh by the Special Operations Group of Rajasthan Police on October 23,2006.
The bench said if the accused police officers fail to surrender they shall be arrested by the CBI which is investigating the case. Justice Katju observed that the same parameters will apply and the law shall take its own course when counsel for Singh’s widow Sushila Devi said that one of the accused Rajender Rathore, a former minister was also absconding The apex court had in April last year directed a CBI probe on an application moved by Sushila Devi accusing the Rajasthan Police of abducting her husband, killing him in a cold blooded manner and passing it off as an encounter.