Kenya Human Rights Commission, Muslims for Human Rights and activist Khelef Khalifa said that the police boss and the Independent Police Oversight Authority were being dodgy about the status of the probe.
They said the two entities were dragging their feet to hold rogue cops accountable for illegal use of force, hence covering for them.
The suit sworn on September 12 claims that despite a long back and forth with the entities in requesting the information, their bosses have largely been evasive.
The matter in issue is the reported killing of 33 people majority of whom were peaceful protestors and others fished from their homes and their business as police tried to quell the demonstrations.
The unrest was trigged by the declaration of the presidential results on August 11, 2017 by then IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati. ODM boss Raila Odinga's supporters took to the streets and with police reaction, deaths and injuries occurred.
Government pathologists as well as state-backed KNHCR confirmed at the time that the deceased succumbed to gunshot wounds.
The interested parties in the case include the Director of Public Prosecution,Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and the Independent Medico-Legal Unit.
The lobbies' beef with the institution started on January 24 when Khalifa wrote to Ipoa requesting information about the agency's actions following the 2017 police killings.
Per the petition, the agency delayed its response until April 12, when they replied that they were investigating only 15 cases, not all 33.
"However, IPOA did not disclose the status of the investigations or provide reasons for not probing the remaining 18 deaths," a brief digest of the petition by the lobbies say.
For Koome, the agencies say Khalifa wrote to him on July 26 inquiring about the progress of the probe into the police killings of the remaining 18 people.
"Like IPOA, Koome delayed his response up to August 15. According to the petition, Koome declined to furnish details of the investigation and redirected Khalifa to seek answers from IPOA," they said.
"Due to this lack of transparency, which hampers access to justice for the victims of police killings, Khrc, Muhuri, and Khalifa have initiated legal action to obtain these records from IPOA and the Inspector-General. Getting the investigation report into police killings is crucial for identifying and holding the officers accountable for these deaths."
Even with the 15 cases under the said probe, it said, it is not clear their status six years on.
