Supreme Court to Review Acquittal in Sohrabuddin Shaikh Encounter Case
Supreme Court Takes Up Sohrabuddin Shaikh Case
A file image of the Supreme Court (Photo: IANS)
New Delhi, Sep 28: On Monday, the Supreme Court decided to review a petition contesting the Bombay High Court's decision that acquitted 22 individuals, including 21 police officers, in the 2005 alleged fake encounter case involving gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his spouse Kausar Bi, and aide Tulsiram Prajapati.
A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, issued a notice regarding the plea submitted by Nayabuddin Shaikh, Sohrabuddin's brother, which challenges the High Court's ruling from May 7 that upheld the acquittal.
The bench expressed its intention to review specific witness statements pertinent to the acquittal.
"We would like to see statements of some witnesses. We are not summoning the record. You give us whatever three-four statements you feel are vital. We will examine the acquittal," stated the Chief Justice.
Justice Bagchi remarked that the fact that 92 prosecution witnesses had turned hostile warranted consideration, especially in evaluating the fairness of the trial.
"The fact that 92 witnesses turned hostile raises concerns. We need to assess whether the trial was fair and just," Justice Bagchi noted.
The petition contests the Bombay High Court's May 7 ruling that dismissed appeals from Rubabuddin and Nayabuddin Shaikh against a December 2018 judgment from a special CBI court in Mumbai, which had acquitted all 22 defendants.
Among those acquitted, 21 were police officials from Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The last accused was the owner of a farmhouse in Gujarat, where, according to the prosecution, Sohrabuddin and Kausar Bi were unlawfully detained.
As per the prosecution's account, Sohrabuddin, his wife, and Prajapati were traveling by bus from Hyderabad to Sangli in Maharashtra when they were allegedly apprehended by police on the night of November 22-23, 2005.
The trio was reportedly transported in separate vehicles.
The CBI claims that Sohrabuddin was killed on November 26, 2005, in an encounter involving police from Gujarat and Rajasthan near Ahmedabad. Kausar Bi was allegedly murdered three days later.
Prajapati, who was incarcerated in Udaipur Central Jail and deemed a crucial witness to the alleged encounter, was killed in a police encounter near the Gujarat-Rajasthan border on December 27, 2006.