MEHMOOD PRACHA Vs. INTELLIGENCE BUREAU & ORS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The writ petitioner, a practicing Advocate of this court, has filed the present writ petition submitting that the same is in public interest. By way of the petition, he seeks the following reliefs :

(2.) So far as the basis of the writ petition is concerned, it is claimed by the petitioner that "he has done the necessary inquiries to investigate and to determine the veracity of the facts mentioned in the present writ petition". In the grounds, the petitioner alleges that the respondents have failed in their duty of protecting the lives of the 39 Indians, who were held hostage by the ISIS in Iraq. So far as the basis of this allegation is concerned, it is submitted that "on the basis of the material available in the public domain", the petitioner asserts that the "citizens of this country as well as the relatives of the hostages" have a right to know what steps were taken to save the hostages and inter alia "why Harjit Masih was taken into custody and persecuted in India."

(3.) So far as the prayer for a probe is concerned, it is contended that "a fair and impartial judicial probe ought to be conducted to establish whether the failure to protect the lives of the Indian captives was on account of mere negligence of duty or a deliberate and wilful act."