In July 2017, the apex court had issued a notice on the plea filed by a relative of one the dead men seeking an independent inquiry into the deaths. THE SUPREME Court has turned down a prayer for further inquiry into the death of eight men of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in an encounter with Madhya Pradesh police following a jailbreak in October 2016. A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Navin Sinha and K M Joseph disposed of the plea after taking note of the findings of a judicial commission of inquiry. The report by a retired High Court judge had concluded that “the use of force resulting in (the) death of the escaped persons was quite inevitable and quite reasonable under the prevailing circumstances”. The court which perused the report, said, “In view of the report of the Commission of Inquiry constituted by a retired High Court judge, which has been brought on record, we are not inclined to interfere. The Special Leave Petition is accordingly disposed of.” In July 2017, the apex court had issued a notice on the plea filed by a relative of one the dead men seeking an independent inquiry into the deaths. The petitioner alleged that it was a case of extra judicial killing. He said the Madhya Pradesh High Court, while rejecting his prayer earlier, had not considered his prayer that he and other relatives were not permitted to participate in the proceedings of the inquiry committee. The judicial commission said in its 17-page report tabled in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly in June this year that the men were lodged at the state’s most secure prison and were being tried for several cases, including offences punishable with death or life imprisonment. They had escaped after tying up one guard and slitting the throat of another. They had then opened the lock of the cell with a key and scaled the outer jail wall using a ladder made of bedsheets and wooden pieces, it said.