The Bombay High Court on Wednesday questioned the circumstances surrounding the death of Akshay Shinde, a 24-year-old accused in a sexual assault case, who was shot dead in police custody.
Akshay Shinde, who worked as a sweeper at a Badlapur school, was accused of assaulting two minor girls. He was killed on Monday while being transferred from Taloja Jail to Badlapur, after allegedly snatching a policeman’s pistol and opening fire. The police have stated that Shinde was killed in retaliatory fire, during which an assistant inspector was injured.
However, Shinde’s father, Anna Shinde, has filed a petition claiming his son was killed in a fake encounter and is calling for an investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT). During the hearing, Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Prithviraj Chavan expressed doubts about the police’s version of events. Anna Shinde’s counsel argued that the accused had met his parents a day before the incident and was not in a mental state to commit the acts attributed to him.
The court questioned how Akshay Shinde, an untrained individual, could have fired a police pistol, noting that operating the gun’s slider requires considerable strength. “It is hard to believe,” the court remarked. The bench further pressed the police on why Shinde wasn’t subdued with non-lethal force, emphasizing that he should have been shot below the knee.
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The state government defended the police, claiming that the officer “did not have time to think” before shooting. However, the court remained skeptical, asking why the officers could not overpower Shinde instead of using deadly force.
The encounter of the Badlapur sexual assault case accused remains under investigation as the court seeks further clarification on the circumstances leading to Shinde’s death, amid growing calls for accountability and adherence to the rule of law.
