SC grants bail to wife of slain gangster Vikas Dubey in cops’ killing case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to Khushi Dubey, the wife of a close aide of slain gangster Vikas Dubey, in a case related to the killing of eight policemen who had gone to arrest him in a Kanpur village in July 2020.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices S Abdul Nazeer and P S Narasimha took note of the submissions of senior lawyer Vivek Tankha that Khushi was a minor at the time of offence and regular bail be granted to her as the charge sheet has also been filed in the case. “Having regard to the… facts and circumstances, we are of the view that the continued custody of the petitioner at this stage would not subserve the ends of justice. We accordingly direct that the petitioner be released on bail subject to such terms and conditions as may be imposed by the Sessions Court in connection with Sessions Trial No…,” the bench said in its order. The local court shall ensure that one of the conditions to be imposed for the grant of bail is that Khushi shall appear at least once every week before the station house officer (SHO) of the police station concerned and cooperate in the trial.

The top court took note of the submissions that the petitioner was a minor on the date of the incident.

“In pursuance of the provisions of Section 18 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015, she is being tried as an adult. She had been married shortly prior to the incident,” it noted.

The apex court was hearing the appeal of the accused against the high court order denying her bail “based on the circumstance that as many as eight police officers who had gone to arrest one Vikas Dubey were killed in the act of firing by the co-accused”.

Khushi is the wife of Amar Dubey, who was also killed in a police encounter later. She is accused of pointing out the presence of policemen who had gone to arrest Vikas to her co-accused and that allegedly led to the massacre of the men in uniform.

She is also accused of exhorting the armed co-accused of gangster Vikas to kill the policemen.

Khushi’s counsel said it is a case of an innocent person at a wrong place at the wrong time as she was married to Amar only seven days before the July 3 incident.

Eight policemen, including Deputy Superintendent of Police Devendra Mishra, were ambushed in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur, when they were going to arrest Vikas and fell to a hail of bullets shot from rooftops shortly after midnight on July 3, 2020.

Vikas was killed in an encounter on July 10 when a police vehicle carrying him from Ujjain to Kanpur met with an accident and he tried to escape, police had said.

Khushi’s lawyer Vivek Tankha, who was assisted by advocate Sumeer Sodhi, told the court that more than 100 witnesses were to be examined in the case and it was a fit matter for the grant of bail keeping in mind the allegations against her.

The court took note of the fact that the accused was “16/17 years of age” at the time of commission of the offence and granted bail saying the trial court would be setting the terms for her release.

The bench said one of the conditions will be that the accused will have to appear before the SHO once a week besides cooperating in the trial and probe if any.

In 2021, the top court had agreed to hear Khushi’s bail plea.

Following a massive search launched by the police after the July 3 incident, two of Vikas’s alleged associates, Prem Prakash Pandey and Atul Dubey, were killed by police in an encounter in Kanpur. On July 8, police had killed Amar who carried a reward of Rs 50,000 in Maudaha village in Hamirpur district.

On July 9, two more alleged aides — Kartikeya alias Prabhat and Praveen alias Bauwa Dubey — were killed in separate encounters in Kanpur and Etawah districts.