NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, INDIA fired two bullets on a sub-inspector sitting in the front row, who ducked and escaped. On this the constables on convey duty immediately retaliated and opened fire resulting in the instant death of all the five under trials. 52 ii. On perusal of the news report, the Commission observed that it transpires that at the time of the incident, at least four of the under trials were inside the van duly guarded by the accompanying policemen and, prima facie, it appeared to the Commission that it was an instant blatant use of disproportionate force resulting in loss of lives of 5 under trials who were in judicial custody and gross violation of their human rights. The Commission issued notice to Chief Secretary and DGP, Telangana calling for a detailed report. iii. The Commission took up this matter for hearing at its camp held at Hyderabad on 23rd April, 2015, when Shri Mohammed Ahmed, father of deceased Viqar Ahmed appeared before the Commission and alleged that the police had shot his son and four others UTPs and later on described the incident as an encounter. He had also alleged the torture of his son in prison. Complaints were also received in the matter from various Human Rights activists, alleging killing of the the five Under Trial Prisoners in a fake encounter. It was also alleged that their transfer from Hyderabad Central Prison to Warangal Prison was aimed to eliminate them. It was also questioned as to how the prisoners could snatch the rifle and fire at the escort party, when they were handcuffed and their legs chained to the seat of the mini-van. iv. The Inspector General of Police, Telangana, submitted that they were involved in serious crimes of the murder of four policemen. Keeping in view the security threat they were shifted to Warangal Prison pursuant to the court’s orders. The Commission sought reports from the Special Team of SIT regarding the post mortem reports, inquest report and the FSL report. The Commission also called for report on injury to any police officials in the incident. v. Pursuant to the directions of the Commission, relevant reports were received. Having carefully gone through the entire records of the case including Inquest, Post Mortem and Magisterial Enquiry Reports, the Commission observed that the escort policemen outnumbered the under trials by 3 : 1 and the movement of the under trials was severely restricted due to handcuffing and their legs being chained. If the sequence of events, as per the police story, are believed, then the Constable Ram Babu whose weapon is stated to have been snatched away by the UTP Viqaruddin Ahmad, was practically in bodily contact and hence natural target, but surprisingly the UTP fired at RSI K Uday Bhaskar, who was standing at some distance.. vi. The Commission further viewed that as per the extant law, once the snatched weapon was restored to the police party, the imminent and instant threat to the lives of policemen ceased to exist. As a result, the right of private defense had ceased to exist and any use of force to kill the UTPs has to be necessarily treated as excessive and undue use of force. It was also easy to overpower the UTPs. ANNUAL REPORT 2018-19