A lawyers’ association has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court challenging the CBI’s decision to not appeal a lower court order that discharged BJP president Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.
The Bombay Lawyers Association termed the CBI’s decision as “illegal, arbitrary and malafide” .
According to petitioner’s lawyer Ahmad Abidi the plea would be presented before a division bench of Justices SC Dharmadhikari and Bharti Dangre on 22 January.
Selective Challenge Unreasonable
Shah had been cleared in the case by a Mumbai court through a December 2014 order.
The plea stated that the trial court had similarly discharged two Rajasthan Police sub-inspectors, Himanshu Singh and Shyam Singh Charan, along with senior Gujarat police officer NK Amin in the case, but their discharge has been challenged by the CBI.
The petition states that CBI’s move to challenge the discharges on a “selective basis” was “arbitrary and unreasonable”
It also highlighted that the Supreme Court, had at the time of shifting the trial from Gujarat to Mumbai, had ordered it to be concluded expeditiously. The plea pointed out that the Administrative Committee had been asked to ensure that the trial is conducted by the same officer all through.
Gag Order Challenged
In a related matter, another judge of the high court has issued notices to the CBI and the accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case regarding two petitions filed by journalists against the trial court’s ban on the reporting on the proceedings.
The gag order was issued by the trial court after defence lawyers highlighted the “misreporting” regarding the death of Judge BH Loya who had handled the case earlier, and also raised security concerns.
Sohrabuddin Sheikh, who according to the Gujarat police was a terrorist as well as a gangster, was killed in an alleged fake encounter by the Gujarat and Rajasthan Police in 2005.
His wife Kausar Bi disappeared thereafter, and is said to have been eliminated by police. Sheikh’s associate Tulsi Prajapati was also killed subsequently in an alleged fake encounter.
The CBI took over the investigation in February 2010 and filed chargesheet in July the same year against the 23 accused, which included Amit Shah who was Gujarat’s minister of state for home at that time.
The trial court, acquitted several of the accused in the case, including three IPS officers as well as Shah.
