HYDERABAD: Advocate Vasudha Nagaraj while presenting her arguments before the Judicial Commission in the ‘encounter’ case on Wednesday stated that the police personnel involved in the incident and the investigating officer who disowned their statements recorded by the NHRC, while being examined by the commission, did so to protect themselves.
She was appearing for K Sajaya, an independent journalist, a petitioner in the PIL filed before the Telangana High Court in the case. “If the NHRC team did indeed threaten the police and record their statements, why didn’t the police examine the NHRC team when they had deposed before the commission,” she asked.
Nagaraj also contended that the ages of the accused were not ascertained at the time of the arrest. “As per the statement of their families, they were picked up around 3 am, but police evidence shows that they were arrested in the evening. SHO Shadnagar who effected the arrest, did not ascertain the age either with the accused or from their relatives.”
Importantly, the Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate at Shadnagar, who granted police custody of the accused did not ascertain the ages. Further, ACP Shadnagar, the IO in the case, looked at them and confirmed that they were adults and didn’t ascertain the ages, thinking, “there was no issue about their age, based on their physical features and experience,” Nagaraj contended.