Vikas Dubey encounter: SC agrees to hear bail plea of wife of gangster’s close aide

PTI, Sep 15, 2021, 7:57 PM IST

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday agreed to hear the bail plea of wife of Amar Dubey, a close aide of gangster Vikas Dubey, who was killed in a police encounter last year in Uttar Pradesh.

A bench of Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari said it is issuing notice to Uttar Pradesh government in the matter.

Senior advocate Vivek Tankha, appearing for Amar”s wife, said she was a minor on the date of incident and she has been in a detention home for the past one year.

Eight policemen, including DSP Devendra Mishra, were ambushed in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur, when they were going to arrest Vikas Dubey and fell to hail of bullets shot from rooftops shortly after midnight on July 3.

Vikas Dubey was killed in an encounter on the morning of July 10 when a police vehicle carrying him from Ujjain to Kanpur met with an accident and he tried to escape from the spot in Bhauti area, the police had said.

Following a massive search launched by the police after the July 3 incident, two of Vikas Dubey’s alleged associates, Prem Prakash Pandey and Atul Dubey, were killed by police in an encounter in Kanpur.

On July 8, the police had killed Amar Dubey who carried a reward of Rs 50,000, in Maudaha village in Hamirpur district.

On July 9, two more alleged aides — Kartikeya alias Prabhat and Praveen alias Bauwa Dubey — were killed in separate encounters in Kanpur and Etawah districts.

Tankha, who was assisted by advocate Sumeer Sodhi, said that it is a case of an innocent person at a wrong place, at the wrong time as she was married to Amar Dubey only seven days prior to the incident of July 3.

The senior counsel said that she was not named in the FIR that was registered following the July 3 incident, while her husband Amar Dubey was arrayed as accused number 14 in the FIR.

The plea filed through advocate Sumeer Sodhi said, “Petitioner who was admittedly a minor on the date of incident and registration of FIR has been made an accused and arrested solely because of the fact that her husband was named in the FIR”.

The bench asked Tankha as to what her age was at the time of incident. He replied that as per the order of the Juvenile Justice Board, which has subsequently been affirmed and reiterated in the impugned order, the age of the petitioner on the date of incident was 16 years 10 months and 12 days.

“She has no criminal antecedents and was a meritorious student pursuing her studies. She even knows south Indian dance. She is in detention for over one year. With her husband being no more, her father wants her to start a new life,” Tankha said, adding that her father, who is not of a good financial background, had married her off before she attained the age of majority.

The bench said it would like to hear the state of Uttar Pradesh in the matter and therefore it is issuing notice.

Her plea said, “The petitioner can be termed as a child who was caught at the wrong place at the wrong moment because of the fact of her marriage. Had she not been married to her husband on the day of the incident, she would have been a complete stranger to the events and would not have been made an accused”.

On July 8, last year, police had said that Amar Dubey, who had carried a reward of Rs 50,000, was killed in an encounter in Maudaha village of Hamirpur district.

It had said that an unlicensed semi-automatic .32 bore pistol was seized from his possession and had claimed that being a close aide Amar travelled with Vikas Dubey, wherever he went, ensuring his security.