New Delhi: “State machinery will take care of you,” the Supreme Court had said on 28 March, as it refused to entertain a plea by gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed to protect him from alleged death threats. Atiq and his brother Ashraf were shot dead in Prayagraj Saturday night by three assailants while in police custody.
The duo was being taken to the Prayagraj medical college for a medical examination by the police when the incident took place amid heavy presence of police and media persons.
Last month, Atiq had approached the Supreme Court claiming a threat to his life in a “fake encounter” following the murder of Umesh Pal on 24 February this year. Pal was the prime witness in the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal, in which Atiq was one of the accused.
In his submission, Atiq had referred to a statement by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the state assembly wherein he said, “…mafia ko mitti mein mila doonga (will crush the mafia)”. Atiq claimed that he and his family had been falsely implicated in the case, and that there was a “genuine and perceptible threat” to their lives.
He had asserted that he “genuinely apprehends and believes” that he “may be killed in a fake encounter on one pretext or the other by UP Police, particularly in view of the statement made by the Chief Minister of UP on the floor of the House”.
He had therefore, demanded a direction to state authorities to “ensure that no physical or bodily injury or harm is done to the person of the petitioner…during police custody/remand/interrogation”.
Atiq had also pleaded to the court to issue a direction restraining state authorities from taking him from Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Central Jail to Prayagraj or any part of the state of Uttar Pradesh.
However, on 28 March, the Supreme Court refused the plea and asked Atiq to approach the high court instead.
Also read: Atiq & Ashraf’s shooters used ‘Turkish-made pistols, may have been hired by powerful gang’
Similar requests by Atiq’s family
On 27 February, Atiq’s wife had also sent an application to CM Yogi Adityanath, requesting him for security, and demanding a CBI probe into the Umesh Pal murder case, claiming the family had no role in it, according to reports.
Last month, the Allahabad High Court directed the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure the safety of Atiq’s brother, Khalid Azeem alias Ashraf, during his jail transfer for the purpose of interrogation or remand proceedings in the Umesh Pal murder case.
Relying on Article 21 of the Constitution, the court had observed, “…as the law of the country demands, every citizen be given a fair trial and when there is an apprehension to the petitioner, in view of the recent developments, we grant this protection and directions are issued.”
On 28 March, a special court in Prayagraj sentenced Atiq and two others — Dinesh Pasi and Khan Saulat Hanif — to life imprisonment in the 2006 abduction of Umesh Pal.
Last week, a team of Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (UP STF) shot dead one of Atiq’s sons, Asad Ahmed, and his “accomplice” Ghulam Muhammed near Jhansi. Both were wanted in connection with the Umesh Pal murder case.
Protection pleas by gangsters
In 2021, according to reports, gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s wife Afshan Ansari moved the Supreme Court seeking safety for the former Mau MLA while he was being shifted to Banda district jail in UP from Punjab’s Rupnagar jail, and during trial in pending cases in the state.
This was after the Supreme Court directed the Punjab government in March 2021 to hand over Ansari’s custody to the UP Police. The court had also dismissed Ansari’s plea to transfer cases against him in UP to any court outside the state. The apex court’s order was passed on a plea of the UP government seeking a direction to the Punjab government and Rupnagar jail authority to hand over Ansari’s custody to the Banda district jail.
Afshan had sought the Supreme Court’s intervention to protect her husband, to ensure that he is not killed in a ‘fake encounter’. The court had, however, refused to entertain the petition in September 2021 and asked her to approach the Allahabad High Court instead. That same month, Ansari’s wife and son Umar Ansari had also filed an application in a special court in Prayagraj, claiming that Ansari’s life was in danger inside the Banda jail.
In 2020, hours before Uttar Pradesh’s most-wanted criminal Vikas Dubey was killed in an encounter, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court by a Mumbai-based lawyer, seeking directions for Dubey’s protection, according to reports. The petition had pointed out that several of Dubey’s aides were killed in different “fake encounters” by the UP Police.
The petition demanded a direct direction to “UP police and government to safeguard the life of accused Vikas Dubey and ensure that he is not killed/encountered by police”.
However, even before this petition could be heard in court, Dubey was killed in an encounter by the UP STF when it was bringing him to Kanpur from Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
Also read: ‘It was over in 30 seconds’ — eyewitnesses recall fatal attack on Atiq Ahmed, Ashraf in Prayagraj