The Gujarat government on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the petitioners who have sought a probe into alleged fake encounters in the state from 2002 to 2006 need to explain their “selective public interest” in raising the issue.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta was hearing two separate petitions filed in 2007 by senior journalist BG Varghese and renowned lyricists Javed Akhtar and Shabnam Hashmi, seeking a probe into the alleged fake encounters. Varghese died in 2014.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state, told the bench that encounters have taken place in other states also.

“They (petitioners) say that we want investigation into certain encounters during a particular period in the state of Gujarat. Why this selective public interest? He will have to answer this,” he told the bench.

“The petitioners will have to satisfy the court about their chosen public interest,” Mehta said.

The apex court had earlier appointed a monitoring authority headed by former apex court judge Justice HS Bedi that had investigated 17 alleged fake encounter cases in Gujarat from 2002 to 2006.

The committee, which submitted its report under sealed cover in 2019, had recommended prosecution against police officers in three of the 17 cases investigated.

In its final report filed in the apex court, the committee had said that prima facie the three people were killed by Gujarat Police in fake encounters. During the hearing on Thursday, lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for one of the petitioners, said that the committee’s report has already come before the court.

“What needs to be done is to prosecute those identified in the report,” he said, adding that the panel has reached prima facie findings in three cases.

The bench said, “The matter is urgent to be heard” and fixed the hearing on the petitions after two weeks.

The Gujarat government had earlier raised objections about the jurisdiction of the petitioners.

In its final report filed in the apex court, the Justice Bedi committee had said that three people – Sameer Khan, Qasam Jafar and Haji Ismail – were prima facie killed in fake encounters by the police. A total of nine police officers, including three inspector rank officers, were convicted in this. However, it did not recommend prosecution against any IPS officer.

On January 9, 2019, a bench headed by then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had rejected the Gujarat government’s plea to maintain confidentiality of the committee’s final report and ordered that it be given to the petitioners.

The panel had also disposed of 14 other cases which were related to the alleged fake encounter killings of Mithu Umar Dafar, Anil Bipin Mishra, Mahesh, Rajeshwar, Kashyap Harpalsingh Dhaka, Salim Gagji Miyana, Jala Popat Devipujak, Rafiksha, Bhima Manda Mer, Joginder Singh Khatansingh. . Ganesh Khunte, Mahendra Jadav, Subhash Bhaskar Nayyar and Sanjay.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)