Badlapur encounter: Human rights org seeks SIT to probe Akshay Shinde death

Akshay Shinde

The People's Union For Civil Liberties (PUCL), Maharashtra, on Saturday issued a statement condemning the extrajudicial killing of Akshay Shinde, the accused in the Badlapur school sexual assault case.

Mihir Desai, PUCL Maharashtra president, and Lara Jesani, general secretary, released a statement demanding that an FIR be registered on the basis of the complaint raised by Shinde's parents. The statement further demanded that a special investigation team (SIT) be appointed for a court-monitored investigation since the police officers involved are from the Crime Branch.

Apart from requesting protection for witnesses, as well as Shinde's family, the organisation further demanded that investigators also probe the Badlapur sexual assaults case, to rule out any conspiracy to cover up that case through the extrajudicial killing on September 23.

PUCL Maharashtra's statement pointed out that this is the fifth case of custodial death in Maharashtra in the past year, adding that between April 1, 2018, and March 31, 2023, of the 687 people who died in police custody across the country, 80 were in Maharashtra, making it the state with the second-highest number of custodial deaths after Gujarat.