In the first of its kind, an open public hearing into the encounter killings will be held in Gujarat on May 14-15 by the National Human Rights Commission.
NHRC chairman K G Balakrishnan, a former Chief Justice of India, will preside over the hearing in Ahmedabad to enable families of the victims of the encounter killings to explain their plight at their doorsteps instead of being called to Delhi for appearance.
Sources said the chairman felt a visit to Gujarat was warranted in view of complaints pouring in about a number of deaths in the staged encounters in which former minister Amit Shah and several police officials had been arrested. The Central Bureau of Investigation is already probing some of these cases.