Record intel before any encounter case: SC directs Police

To curb the menace of staged-encounters by the custodians of law, the Supreme Court in a landmark verdict laid out a series of guidelines for police that must be followed before indulging in any such raid that may amount to extra-judicial killings.

In the directives laid down by a bench headed by chief justice RM Lodha, the apex court said that the police must keep a record - in writing or electronic - when they receive intelligence inputs about terrorists, before going after them, as reported by media.

The top court observed, if the encounter leads to death, the police must immediately file an FIR or police complaint.

The rules should include keeping the source of a tip confidential and a magisterial inquiry into any killing.

The court said weapons used in the encounter have to be surrendered for ballistic tests.

The bench said, Police encounters have to be investigated by the state Criminal Investigation Department or officers from a different area of jurisdiction, not by anyone involved in the raid.

Not only that, information of an encounter has to be sent to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), along with status report on the investigation every six months, it added.

The court also said out-of-turn promotions or gallantry awards should not be granted just after the shooting. 

A policeman's "bravery" has to be proved before he can be rewarded. In 2011, the court observed that police personnel involved in fake encounter killings should be sentenced to death.

"Custodians of law should protect people and not eliminate them as contract killers," the judges said, calling it "cold-blooded murder" by policemen, SC has said there.

The top however on Tuesday said the NHRC or other rights watchdog should not intervene in all cases of police encounters unless there is a serious apprehension that the encounter was “fake”.

It also allowed anyone with a grievance over an alleged fake encounter to file a case in a Sessions court.