Vikas Dubey Encounter Killing: Supreme Court seeks reply from UP govt on pleas seeking probe into encounter, hints at setting up committee

The Supreme Court today sought a response from the State of Uttar Pradesh on the pleas seeking a probe into the encounter killing of gangster Vikas Dubey. The Court also hinted at setting up a committee to look into the matter..The Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justices R Subhash Reddy and AS Bopanna took up for hearing a batch of petitions seeking a probe into the encounter killings of gangster Vikas Dubey and his associates..During the hearing, the Court said that it may set up a committee to investigate the encounter, similar to what was done in the Telangana encounter case of December 2019.."We will do something similar like what we did in the Telangana case."CJI SA Bobde.Hyderabad Encounter: Supreme Court sets up inquiry commission to probe the encounter killing of four rape accused.However, while hinting at its willingness to set up a committee, CJI Bobde clarified that the Supreme Court would not monitor this probe. He also stated that these are the kind of cases where the Supreme Court was "extremely reluctant" to venture into..Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, arguing on behalf of Uttar Pradesh government, made the government's position clear to say that an adversarial stand will not be taken. He, however, sought for a copy of the pleas to be served on him to file a reply..The Court has directed the State of Uttar Pradesh to file its reply by Thursday, July 16 and fixed the next date for hearing on Monday, July 20..Dubey and his aides were accused of gunning down as many as eight police personnel in Kanpur. He was subsequently taken into police custody on July 9 after surrendering before the Madhya Pradesh Police. .Dubey was killed on the morning of July 10, while being taken back to Uttar Pradesh by the state police..Hours before his killing, Mumbai-based lawyer Ghanshyam Upadhyay had filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking protection for the gangster, apprehending his killing in a "fake encounter". The encounter took place even before the plea could be listed before the Supreme Court..Hours before gangster Vikas Dubey's encounter killing, plea was filed before Supreme Court apprehending his death and seeking protection.Upadhyay, along with another petitioner Anoop Prakash Awasthi, sought an independent probe into the encounter killings of Dubey and his aides, who also died while in police custody..Subsequently, an application seeking similar reliefs was filed by the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) in another pending matter which sought to question the encounters that had taken place in Uttar Pradesh from January 2017 to March 2018..Vikas Dubey: "Encounter an offence against entire society", PUCL moves application in Supreme Court seeking SIT probe.PUCL's urgent application seeks a probe monitored by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the encounter killings of Dubey and his aides Amar Dubey and Prabhat Mishra..The application states that “encounter is a serious crime/culpable homicide and is an "offense against the entire society.".PUCL's application was filed by Advocate Aparna Bhat and is drafted by Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh..Read Order: