New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday came down heavily on the Uttar Pradesh government for the latter’s “laxity” in booking the police officers accused in an encounter killing case which took place 19 years ago in 2002, according to LiveLaw.The bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose, while hearing a petition filed by the victim’s father, noted the petitioner’s struggles of having to “run from pillar to post” to ensure justice for his son. Moreover, the court ordered the UP government to deposit Rs 7 lakh for interim expenses with the court’s registry within a period of one week which, once deposited, will be collected by the petitioner.Background of the caseThe alleged “encounter” had taken place in 2002 in Sikandrabad in UP’s Bulandshahar district. Shortly after, the police had filed a closure report on the investigation in question. This report, however, was rejected by a trial court in January 2005, which provided a detailed statement for doing so, the Hindu reported.Despite the rejection and no stay in proceedings being granted by the court, no arrest was made in relation to the case for nine months, until October 2005. Even then, only one accused was arrested.No further arrests in the case were made for over a decade. In that time, the Allahabad high court refused to quash the case, yet no further action was taken against any of the accused police officers.Trial courts had also made successive orders in 2018 and 2019 to stop the payment of salaries to the accused officers, yet even these were not complied with by the UP government except in the case of one accused.What’s more, during Thursday’s hearing, the court was apprised of the fact that one of the accused officers, who has been absconding, retired in 2019 and received his retirement dues and benefits in full.It was only after notices were sent on the present writ petition that any action was taken by the state. Two of the accused have been arrested and one has surrendered while one continues to abscond.“Such conduct of the state cannot be understood. The laxity with which the state has proceeded in the present case speaks volumes of how the state machinery is defending or protecting its own police officers,” the Supreme Court observed.It is interesting to note that the court’s observations come shortly after Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana’s remarks in support of the formation of a standing committee, to be led by the chief justices of various high courts, to investigate complaints of “atrocities” committed by members of the bureaucracy, especially police officers.The CJI’s remarks were made on August 26 while granting protection from arrest to Gurjinder Singh Pal, suspended director of the Chhattisgarh police academy. CJI Ramana then had spoken of a “disturbing trend” in the country where the police seem to favour the ruling party. Also read: ‘Why Should Court Protect These Officers?’: CJI Ramana on Cop Facing Extortion ChargesIn the present petition, the apex court provided the UP government with a period of one week to deposit the funds for interim expenses and listed the matter for further hearing on October 20.