Chandigarh: Punjab Congress chief Sukhpal Singh Khaira urged the Chief Justice of India to take suo motu cognisance of what he described because the alleged extrajudicial killing of 19-year-old Ranjit Singh by the Punjab Police in Gurdaspur district. In his letter, Khaira claimed the incident mirrored a broader and troubling sample of alleged faux encounters within the state.Khaira requested the court docket invoke its jurisdiction below Articles 32 and 142 of the Constitution, and prayed that his letter be handled both as a writ petition or as grounds for suo motu motion. He argued that the matter issues the basic proper to life and private liberty assured below Article 21 of the Constitution, which, he mentioned, can’t be taken away besides by means of due strategy of regulation.In the letter, Khaira referred to the case of Ranjit Singh, a 19-year-old first-year Bachelor of Arts pupil from Gurdaspur district, who was killed on Feb 25 in what the police described as an encounter. Khaira mentioned Ranjit Singh was allegedly picked up from his residence with no formal arrest memo, with out being produced earlier than a Justice of the Peace, and with out informing his household, which he claimed was in violation of the rules laid down by the Supreme Court in D Ok Basu v. State of West Bengal relating to arrest and detention procedures. He additionally alleged that CCTV cameras within the locality had been eliminated or disabled earlier than the youth was taken away.The letter added that the household claimed that Ranjit Singh had no prior felony file or historical past of violence. Khaira additionally questioned the police account of the occasions resulting in the encounter, during which the youth was allegedly described as an operative linked to Pakistan’s ISI.The Congress chief additionally alleged that no FIR was registered towards the police personnel concerned, and that no unbiased magisterial inquiry was ordered thus far. He additional claimed that there was no compliance with the rules laid down by the Supreme Court in PUCL v. State of Maharashtra relating to investigation of encounter deaths.In his illustration, Khaira acknowledged that the case shouldn’t be seen in isolation and referred to what he described as a sample of comparable encounters within the state. He cited one other incident from Jan 2026, involving an individual recognized as Karan Pathak, which he claimed adopted an identical sequence of occasions whereas the person was in police custody.Khaira additionally referred to observations made earlier this yr by the Punjab and Haryana excessive court docket about rising issues associated to felony exercise within the state.In his plea to the apex court docket, Khaira sought instructions for a complete investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the dying of Ranjit Singh. He additionally requested that the probe look at what he described as a broader sample of encounter killings.The letter additional requested the court docket direct the registration of FIRs towards the police personnel concerned within the incident, order forensic examination of autopsy and ballistic proof, and examine the alleged elimination or disabling of CCTV cameras.Khaira additionally urged the court docket to direct the National Human Rights Commission to conduct an unbiased inquiry into the alleged sample of encounter killings in Punjab, and to make sure compliance with the Supreme Court tips governing police encounters. MSID:: 129082390 413 |
