Annual Report 2009-2010
4.143 Pursuant to the directions of the Commission, an enquiry report by the Superintendent
of Police, Muzaffarnagar and the magisterial enquiry report was submi�ed to the NHRC. The
enquiry report of the Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarnagar revealed that a police party
led by Sub-Inspector Adarsh Kumar Sharma Police Station of Babari was busy in the search
of wanted criminals of crime No. 197/03 u/s 147,148,307,303,452,323 IPC. During this process,
a motor-cycle was spo�ed. The motorcycle rider was asked to stop, but he did not stop and
on the contrary fired on the police party. The police retaliated in self-defence. The motorcycle
rider, named Kuldeep Singh, sustained injuries in the firing and died while he was being taken
to the hospital. He was later identified as the son of the complainant. Crime Case No.815/03 u/s
307 of the IPC and Crime Case No. 816/03 u/s 25 of the Arms Act were registered in the ma�er
at Kotwali Nagar Police Station of Muzaffarnagar. The other two riders of the motorcycle fled
away. The report furthermore revealed that an order had been passed in the aforesaid crimes
which stated the ma�er be investigated by the State CB-CID of U�ar Pradesh and a magisterial
enquiry too be conducted.
4.144 In the magisterial enquiry, the Magistrate did not find any foul play with regard to the
death of the deceased and held the death of the deceased was on account of fire by the police
personnel in self-defence. The deceased was a habitual offender and was involved in a number
of crimes of armed robbery, murder, abduction, etcetera.
4.145 On perusal of the magisterial enquiry report, the Commission called upon the Additional
Director General, CB-CID to submit the outcome of the investigation relating to Crime
Case No.815/03 and No. 816/03. In response, the Commission was informed that initially
though the investigation was entrusted to CB-CID but later on it was again reverted to the
local police. The local police subsequently submi�ed a final report in the case and the ma�er
was now in the Court of Judicial Magistrate, Muzaffarnagar.
4.146 While examining the report, the Commission observed that the State Government had
given no reason for withdrawal of the case from CB-CID and handing it over to the local police
for investigation. It cannot ignore the fact that the elder son of the complainant Harpal Singh
had been killed in a police encounter earlier. Elimination of two sons of the complainant in
an encounter creates a serious doubt about the intentions of the local police. It is, therefore,
desirable that the ma�er should be investigated by an independent agency like CB-CID.
Consequently, it directed the Secretary, Home Department, Government of U�ar Pradesh to
entrust the investigation of the case to CB-CID a�er completion of all necessary formalities and
report the progress of the investigations conducted to the Commission. In addition, it deputed
a team from the Investigation Division of NHRC to enquire into the incident. The team found
the police version of the incident to be distrustful.
4.147 An enquiry into the incident was also held by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Sadar,
Muzaffarnagar. The enquiry report revealed that one Surem had appeared before the Magistrate
and made a statement that she had seen Kuldeep and Sachin Jain in front of Shekhar Nursing
Home on 23 October 2003 at about 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. Other than this, one Rajbiri had made a
statement on 15 December 2003 and confirmed the testimony of Surem. Later on, she submi�ed
an affidavit dated 7 May 2004 and retracted from her earlier statement. During the interregnum
between the two statements, Rajbiri’s son Raju was kidnapped on 24 January 2004 and an FIR
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NHRC