Plea Filed In Supreme Court To Prevent Disposal Of Body Of Man Killed In Chhattisgarh 'Fake Encounter'

A writ petition has been filed before the Supreme Court to prevent disposal of a dead body by state-authorities in an alleged fake encounter in Chhattisgarh.

The matter was mentioned today before a bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and N Kotiswar Singh.

On a Court query, the counsel who mentioned the case submitted that the petitioner had initially approached the Chhattisgarh High Court. However, urgent listing was not allowed and there is apprehension that the respondents would dispose of the dead body.

When the counsel claimed that the respondents are trying to dispose of the body, Justice Kant remarked, "no, no, it's alright...we know how you people are here, don't ask us to comment".

The petition has been filed through AoR Satya Mitra. It impleads the State of Chhattisgarh, its Director General of Police, its Inspector General of Police, a District Collector, the CBI and Late Baliram Kashyap Memorial as party-respondents.

Notably, in 2014, the Supreme Court issued 16 guidelines [Ref: PUCL v. State of Maharashtra] for investigation of fake encounters. A two Judge bench comprising ex-CJI RM Lodha and Justice RF Nariman held that Article 21 of the Constitution of India guarantees "right to live with human dignity". Any violation of human rights is viewed seriously by Court as right to life is the most precious right guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. It was also held that killings in police encounters affect the credibility of the rule of law and the administration of the criminal justice system.

Recently, the Supreme Court directed the Assam Human Rights Commission (Assam HRC) to conduct an independent and expeditious enquiry into allegations of fake police encounters in the State of Assam. It was observed that each of the 171 cases highlighted by the petitioner warranted objective scrutiny.

Case Title: RAJA CHANDRA v. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH, Diary No. - 55729/2025