Former Supreme Court judge Justice H.S. Bedi, concluded that none of the 17 police encounters, which occurred between 2002 and 2006 and came under the Supreme Court scanner, was an instance of “selective elimination of Muslim extremists”.
This is part of the 229-page report Justice Bedi had submitted to the Supreme Court in February 2018. The report was ordered to be shared with the PIL petitioners who had moved the Supreme Court in 2007, highlighting the need for a fair investigation.
Justice Bedi was the chairman of the body which monitored the investigation by a Special Task Force into the cases. This was the final and 11th report filed by the retired judge in the Supreme Court and has been kept under wraps for the past year.
Justice Bedi’s observation on whether the cases suggested a state pogrom against “Muslim extremists” comes in response to allegations by a former senior Gujarat IPS officer R.B. Sreekumar.
Rejecting the allegation, the former judge said, “The circumstances belie the allegations as the victims belonged to several parts of India, as far afield as Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala and Maharashtra and as the names suggest, several communities as well”.
Justice Bedi suggest that the “only common feature amongst most of them was the element of criminality of varying degrees and levels”.
“The issues raised by Mr. Sreekumar are not, thus, relevant...” Justice Bedi said.
