FIR mandatory in cases of alleged fake encounters by police: Delhi High Court

New Delhi: An FIR has to be mandatorily registered whenever a person is killed in an allegedly fake encounter by police, the Delhi High Court has held.

Justice Neena Bansal Krishna rejected a petition by the State against a sessions court order refusing to interfere with a magistrate's direction on registration of an FIR against a Delhi Police raiding team following the death of a person who suffered a gunshot injury during a chase.

The court noted that since the deceased, Rakesh, had five other "blunt force" injuries besides the firearm injury on his lower back, it had to be established whether he was mercilessly beaten up.

"The investigations are required to ascertain whether it was a case of murder or of an encounter.. Pertinently, no police official was injured despite the claim that the persons had fired at them too. The circumstances leading to the death of Rakesh need to be explained,"  the court said in a recent order.

The court took into account several judgements passed by the Supreme Court on the issue of deaths in police encounters and said in a society governed by law, it is imperative that extrajudicial killings are properly and independently investigated so that justice may be done.

"In the light of aforesaid judgments, it is held that the law mandates that whenever a person dies in an encounter which is alleged to be fake, the FIR has to be mandatorily registered," the court said.

Maintaining that the sessions court rightly concluded that there was enough material to direct the registration of an FIR, the court ordered, "Additional Sessions Judge has given cogent reasons for upholding the directions to register the FIR, as also given by learned Chief Metropolitan Magistrate under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. 57. There is no merit in the present petition which is hereby rejected." The court also said the requirement of sanction under section 197 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) is necessary for probe when acts are done by an official in discharge of duty but it would not scuttle the registration of FIR, as it can be obtained subsequently, if the circumstances warrant.

It added that registration of FIR is only to facilitate the investigation and it may end in a closure report.

In the present case, in March 2013, a police team had gone after a "dreaded, hardcore and desperate criminal" Manoj who was present in a car with the deceased and another occupants.

It was alleged that on being chased by police, its occupants opened fire in self-defence. Police also claimed they fired at the rear wheels of the vehicle to prevent the alleged criminal from escaping.

The deceased was allegedly found injured on the rear seat of the car with a loaded sophisticated pistol.

The father of the deceased alleged police murdered his son.