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Ghanshyam Upadhyay v. State of U.P. & Ors.

Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2020 INSC 499Decided 19 Aug 2020
Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 177 of 2020
Chief Justice S.A. Bobde · Justice A.S. Bopanna · Justice V. Ramasubramanian

Background

This order decides an application, not the main petition. Uttar Pradesh set up a Commission of Inquiry into the encounter killing of gangster Vikas Dubey. The petitioner asked the Court to replace the Commission, alleging bias by its Chairman and a Member based on a newspaper article.

Decision Breakdown

This is not a final judgment on the writ petition. The Court rejected the application, holding that allegations of bias cannot rest only on unverified press reports. The writ petition was to be listed with the Commission's report.

Lesson Learnt

A claim of bias against an inquiry body needs more than a newspaper report.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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