High Court puts CBI, Punjab on notice in ‘fake encounter case’

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday put the State of Punjab and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on notice on a petition filed by a couple seeking a time-bound CBI probe under the court’s supervision into their 22-year-old son’s “fake encounter” after being “falsely implicated” in a kidnapping case

In their petition placed before Justice Sanjiv Berry’s Bench, petitioners Baljit Kaur and Lakhwinder Singh, through counsel Navkiran Singh, contended that their son Jaspreet Singh was a student living in Canada since October 2022. Recently married, he returned to India only days before he was killed in a police encounter on March 13 in the area of Nabha police station.

According to the plea, Jaspreet was accused of kidnapping a seven-year-old child of a distant relative, leading to registration of an FIR. It was claimed that a police party followed a white vehicle believed to be carrying the kidnapped child. Upon being signalled to stop, the vehicle allegedly sped away, leading to a chase and an encounter in which Jaspreet Singh was shot and two police personnel were injured.

Navkiran Singh stated on the petitioners’ behalf that the post-mortem report dated March 14 revealed seven bullet injuries on Jaspreet’s body, including three with “tattooing” – a sign of close-range firing. One of the injuries, bearing tattooing, was located on the forehead, indicating the youth was shot at point-blank range.

The plea further alleged that the police officials involved were lauded by their superiors and reportedly rewarded with promotions and monetary incentives as per a news-report, instead of being subjected to accountability. The petitioners submitted that they had no faith in a police-led inquiry, especially when the very force involved in the alleged staged encounter was in charge of the investigation.