The National Human Rights Commission issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the police on Thursday, after the family of wanted criminal Sumit Gurjar alleged that he was killed in a staged police encounter.
Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports, the NHRC issued notices to the U.P. Chief Secretary and the DGP , asking for reports within four weeks. Sumit was gunned down in Greater Noida on Tuesday night. His family alleged that the police had picked him up earlier from a market. On Wednesday, his relatives protested the killing by blocking traffic in Noida.
In a statement, the NHRC said the allegations levelled by Sumit’s family, if true, “raised serious issue of violation of human rights of the deceased and the aggrieved family.”
Killing a wanted criminal in an “unlawful manner” would not send out a good message and the police in any event did not have the right to take lives.
The Gautam Budh Nagar district police have denied the family’s allegations.
