Bengaluru
The Karnataka High Court on Friday directed the State government to submit a status report concerning the alleged killing of a Bihar migrant labourer, Ritesh Kumar, who was reportedly shot by police on April 13 in Hubballi. Kumar had been accused of murdering a five-year-old girl in the city. Police claim he was shot while attempting to flee from custody.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Poonacha issued the direction while adjourning the petition filed by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Karnataka, to November 14. During the hearing, Additional Government Advocate Niloufer Akbar informed the court that the case is currently under investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and asserted that “nothing survives as of today” regarding the prayers in the petition.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that the FIR was lodged against the deceased and not the police personnel, calling it a “non-starter FIR,” and sought time for a senior advocate to make submissions. The court noted this and adjourned the matter.
Previously, the court had directed the State to follow Supreme Court guidelines from PUCL v. State of Maharashtra (2014) in cases of deaths involving police action. It had ordered that the deceased’s post-mortem be conducted by two doctors at a local hospital, with videography of the entire procedure and preservation of samples for investigation. The State was later permitted to bury the body after confirming that the post-mortem was completed and necessary body parts preserved for investigative purposes.
The court’s instructions underscore the importance of transparency and adherence to legal protocols in cases of alleged custodial deaths.
