JUDGMENT : 1. We have heard learned counsel on both sides. 2. We permit the amendment of the special leave petition to retain the prayer against the order dated 11.10.1991 dismissing the writ petition No. O.J.C. 4652 of 1991, as well as the subsequent order dated 22.11.1991 dismissing the Civil Review No. 71/1991. 3. There is a delay of 10 days in filling the S.L.P. That delay is condoned. 4. On the night-intervening 27th and 28th of February, 1988, Santosh Kumar Das, a 22 years old son of the petitioner Ganga Das, succumbed to gun-shot injuries inflicted on him in an incident of firing by the Police at the village Dengaosta in Orissa. Santosh Kumar Das died on the way to the hospital and later, at the directions of the Police was "cremated". The allegations are - and these raise serious and anxious questions that police collected some firewood, and on the directions of the police, the hospital staff poured kerosene on the body and set fire to it. 5. The version of the Police seems to be that on 27th February, 1988, they along with certain Forest Officers, went for a search and seizure operation against stocks of timber illegally obtained and stocked at Dengaosta. The raiding party, according to the police version, was attacked by a rioting mob necessitating, the opening fire in self-defence by the police and that the deceased who was a member of the unlawful assembly and had attacked the raiding party with a spear, received gun-shot injuries to which he later succumbed. 6. Narrating the alleged sequence of events, petitioner inter-alia avers in the petition for special leave : "That at about 4 p.m. on 28.2.88, the Inspector of Pattapur Police Station came to the house of the petitioner and took him in a jeep to Berhampur M.K.C.G. Medical College & Hospital and then to the morgue where he saw his son's dead body and identified the same. At the morgue, the Inspector who had taken the petitioner to the Hospital, ignoring the petitioner totally, obtained some wood from somewhere and directed the Hospital, ignoring the I petitioner totally, obtained some wood from somewhere and directed the Hospital staff to carry the dead body to the nearby funeral ground, which was promptly done. The Hospital staff then lit fire to the dead body pouring kerosene. The Hospital staff then lit fire to the dead body pouring kerosene. The petitioner was made to witness this sad spectacle and was prevented by the same Inspector from collecting the ashes of his son. The said Inspector again took the petitioner back to the Pattapur Police Station around 1 A.M. on the night of 29.2.88, where he was made to wait outside for nearly ten hours. At about 11.30 A.M. the same day, the said Inspector of Pattapur Police Station handed over a Rs. 100/- currency note to the petitioner and asked him to go back quietly to his village." 7. Petitioner also relies on certain observations made by the learned Sessions Judge while acquitting some persons prosecuted for the rioting. The learned Assistant Sessions Judge is stated to have observed : "From the pith and substance of the evidence of all the eye witnesses to the occurrence, it is seen that a person who attempted to kill P.W. 1 had been succumbed to his gun shot injury not by any of the rioting party, but the prosecution party. To save the prosecution party from the instant danger to be involved in the murder of such a person, as it seems, the present case has been knitted against the accused persons." 8. Learned counsel for the petitioner strenuously urged that petitioner lost his son owing to Police high handedness and that the dismissal by the High Court of the writ petition for award of compensation and for initiating action for the unlawful killing has resulted in a failure of justice. The manner in which the dead body was disposed of, according to the learned counsel, was also not very civilised. 9. In the counter, the respondents setting out the circumstances in which Santosh Kumar Das died, say : "A temporary electric bulb was fixed at the front and a petromax was burning at the back side. All in a sudden the electricity failed and the petromax light was put off due to pelting of stones etc. Soon after the members of the unruly mob attacked the members of the raiding party with the deadly weapons, as a result most of the members of the raiding party got injuries on their person." The allegations made in the writ petition and the counter affidavit filed in this Court justify the view that the matter does not deserve to he dismissed summarily. The version of the Police is that a mob attacked a Police raiding party and in the exercise of the right of private defence the Police opened fire resulting in the death of the said Santosh Kumar Das. It was alleged that the deceased was armed with a spear and the implication is that he was shot to prevent an attack from him. This, prima facie, may not square with the version that at the time, which was said to be after mid-night, electricity had failed and even Kipp's lamp was broken and its light extinguished and that the Police virtually opened fire blindly in the dark. The police version may also not, prima-facie, be recanciliable with the postmortem report which said that the deceased had been injured by "distant firing". Petitioner also relies upon this circumstance to contend that the case of the Police that the firing was in self-defence when the deceased tried to attack the raiding party with a spear stands falsified. We abstain from any assessment of these factual matters or inferences therefrom so that the inquiry, we propose at the hands of the District and Sessions Judge, Ganjam District, is impartial and uninfluenced by any such observation. Suffice it to say that we are satisfied that the matter calls for and needs an inquiry. 10. We direct the District and Sessions Judge, Ganjam District State of Orissa, to hold and inquiry into the circumstances leading to the death of Santosh Kumar Das and the attendant circumstances and report whether the killing was in exercise of right of private defence or whether the deceased was an innocent victim of police highhandedness, callousness or recklessness. The Inquiry shall be completed within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order by the District Judge. The petitioner shall be assisted in the enquiry by the Orissa State Legal and Advice Board, who will nominate a lawyer to appear for him. The expenses in this behalf, including the fee of the lawyer, shall be met by the State of Orissa. The State Government and all its officers are directed to afford all assistance in the inquiry. The report shall he submitted before the High Court in writ petition OJC 4652/1991 which stands remitted to the High Court. 11. The expenses in this behalf, including the fee of the lawyer, shall be met by the State of Orissa. The State Government and all its officers are directed to afford all assistance in the inquiry. The report shall he submitted before the High Court in writ petition OJC 4652/1991 which stands remitted to the High Court. 11. In the meanwhile, we also think it necessary that the petitioner should have an interim compensation. The circumstance on record indicate that such an order for interim compensation is justified. We direct the State of Orissa to pay to the petitioner a sum of Rs. 5,000/- within one month from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. A further sum of Rs. 20,000/- shall be placed in a fixed deposit in a nationalised bank for a period of three years with liberty to the petitioner to collect the interest accruing thereon periodically. The deposit of Rs. 20,000/- shall be made with the Registrar, Orissa High Court, who will invest the money in his own name in a nationalised bank nearest to the place of petitioner's residence authorising the Bank to pay interest monthly to the petitioner. This direction as to compensation is an interim direction without prejudice to all other rights and remedies of the petitioner. The High Court while disposing of the writ petition finally may, if circumstances justify, issue directions for the release of the deposit of Rs. 20,000/- to the petitioner. 12. We, accordingly, set aside both the orders dated 22.11.1991 in review as well as the earlier order dated 11.10.1991 in the writ petition - OJC No. 4652/91 - and remit the writ petition for consideration on the merits with the assistance of the report of the District and Sessions Judge, Ganjam District. 13. The special leave petition is disposed of accordingly. 14. The petitioner before this Court is granted exemption from payment of the court fee.