Chandigarh: The Allahabad High Court has asked the Uttar Pradesh government to explain its decision to withdraw a CB-CID inquiry and cases against the 42 Pilibhit district jail employees, responsible for the 1994 custodial death of seven Sikhs in Pilibhit jail.
Admitting a writ petition by Pilibhit-based Harjinder Singh Kahlon, Justice KJ Thaker has given the state government three weeks to file its response.
As per reports, separate notices are being sent to all 42 accused in the case, including the then jail superintendent Vindhyachal Singh Yadav, his deputy and 40 jail constables.
They had been chargesheeted by the Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID) before the case was summarily withdrawn in 2007.
The case pertains to the killings of seven Sikh inmates by jail staff in Pilibhit jail on the intervening night of November 8-9, 1994. The 28 Sikh prisoners lodged in barrack number 7 were brutally beaten up by the jail staff after being charged with attempting to escape. While seven succumbed to the beating, 21 suffered grievous injuries.
The then chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had ordered a CB-CID probe against the 42 guilty jail staff. On January 24, 1995, a chargesheet was filed against jail superintendent Yadav and 41 others.
A dramatic U-turn came in 2007 when the Mulayam Singh Yadav government came to power again. It permitted withdrawal of the case against the jail staff.
The issue was revived following an English vernacular (The Tribune) report on May 9 this year.