Judicial Inquiry Launched into Akshay Shinde's Death in Badlapur Encounter

Amid the controversy over the encounter of Akshay Shinde, the main accused in the sexual abuse of two four-year-old girls in a Badlapur's reputed school, the Maharashtra government has formed a single-member judicial commission headed by retired justice Dilip Bhosale to probe the case.

The investigation will be under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952 and the report has to be submitted within three months. The government issued a gazette notification on Tuesday.

The Commission's terms of reference include holding an inquiry into the sequence of events that happened at Mumbra Bypass, Thane on September 23 regarding the exchange of fire between the accused person Akshay Shinde and the police escort party which resulted in the latter's death and causes and consequences thereof. The Commission will inquire whether any individual or group of individuals or organisations, if any, was seen directly or indirectly responsible for the said incident.

The Commission will probe whether the steps taken by the police in handling the aforesaid situation were appropriate and will also conduct a detailed examination of all the related aspects and events of the said incident.

Further, the Commission will conduct a probe into all other aspects related to the incident provided by the state government and suggest short-term and long-term measures to be taken by the police in order to avoid the occurrence of such incidents.

The state government's move comes days after the opposition parties and retired police officers, including former cop JF Ribeiro, strongly criticised the encounter questioning its timing.

"Whereas, the state government having regard to the nature of incident, being a definite matter of public importance is of the opinion that it is necessary to inquire into the exact sequence of the said incidents, causes thereof and the persons or organisation, if any, responsible for the same and the role of the police machinery during the said incident, and also to identify the measures to prevent recurrence of such incident through a Commission appointed under section 3 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 19542,'' said the gazette notification.

(With inputs from IANS)