India extrajudicial killings alarm UN rights experts and Supreme Court News
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India extrajudicial killings alarm UN rights experts and Supreme Court

Four UN special rapporteurs and experts on human rights said on Friday that they are “extremely concerned” by extrajudicial police killings in Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state.

The experts have sent a letter containing information to the Indian Government on 15 cases, most of which concern individuals from poor Muslim families. The UN officials say that they are yet to receive a response to their letter.

“We are extremely concerned about the pattern of events: individuals allegedly being abducted or arrested before their killing, and their bodies bearing injuries indicative of torture,” the UN experts said. “We have also received allegations of corruption including the police demanding money to release the victim prior to the killing,” they added.

India’s Supreme Court was apprised of the issue on Monday after an NGO filed a petition seeking an independent investigation into the so-called “encounter” killings in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the matter requires “serious consideration” and agreed to examine the details.

In a 2014 decision, the Supreme Court had formulated guidelines on investigations into police killings. The UN experts concluded in their letter to the government that the Supreme Court’s guidelines were not being followed. The violations identified include instances of the police failing to inform family members of the killings, failure to conduct examinations of the crime scene, and failing to provide copies of post-mortem reports to families of the victims.