Ishrat Jahan Encounter Case: As Govt Refuses Sanction, CBI Court Lets Off Remaining Three Cops

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File photo of Ishrat Jahan (left) and scene of encounter

Ishrat’s mother Shamima Kausar had already withdrawn her lawyer in 2019 saying she does not expect justice

Waquar Hasan | Clarion India

NEW DELHI – A Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday discharged three police officials and dropped proceedings against them in a 2004 alleged fake encounter case of Mumbai girl Ishrat Jahan after the Gujarat government refused to give sanction to prosecute them. With this, all accused who were chargsheeted in the fake encounter of 4 people have been let off.

 Discharging three police officials – IPS officer G.L. Singhal, retired policeman Tarun Barot and SRPF commando Anaju Chaudhari – CBI special judge Vipul R. Raval observed “the order is passed with the application of mind and Government has also come to the conclusion that the offences committed by the present applicants are such which have been committed while discharging their official duties as police officers and also the investigation against the accused is not proper and there is no evidence against the accused.”

These policemen were booked under sections 341, 342, 343, 365/, 368, 312 and 211 of the Indian Penal Code and section 25/(1)(e) and 27 of the Indian Arms Act.

In this alleged fake encounter case, other four police officials – former IG DG Vanzara, P.P. Pandey, and N.K. Amin were discharged last year for the same reason – the government’s refusal to give sanction to prosecute them. There were 7 accused in the matter but one accused killed in an accident during trial.

In June 2004, Gujarat police killed 19-year-old woman Ishrat Jahan along with Javed Shaikh, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar near Ahmedabad declaring them “terrorists”. However, magisterial enquiry, SIT probe and CBI investigation found that the police encounter against them was fake one and the claim made by the accused of opening fire on the victims as a self-defence was a lie.

However, the CBI court believed in the police story that “they had received information from Intelligence Bureau (IB) that four terrorists had entered Gujarat and in retaliation police fired, resultantly killing them all. Therefore the act was carried out by the police officers while carrying out their duties”.

The court also noted that the CBI did not file the application to seek sanction to prosecute the accused.

“In the present case, the CBI has not filed any application seeking sanction for prosecution. When it has been established that the accused have acted while performing their official duties the CBI ought to have got sanction for prosecution,” said the court.

Ahmedabad-based lawyer Shamshad Pathan, who was counsel for the victim in this case till 2019, said that the refusal by the government to give sanction to prosecute these accused is against the court order and the constitutional framework.

“The court has discharged these police officials on the ground that the state did not give sanction to prosecute them. On the other hand, the High Court and Supreme Court had said that it was a fake encounter and it must be investigated. The government is denying the sanction for the prosecution despite court order. It clearly shows that the Gujarat government does not believe in the High Court and Supreme Court,” Pathan said.

“They don’t value the High Court and Supreme Court. This is an open war by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Sangh Parivar against the constitutional framework suggesting that however big the court is, they are superior in the country,” he said.

The magisterial court had said that the police officials carried out the fake encounter for the sake of medal and bringing appreciation for the then state government when Narendra Modi was the chief minister. The investigation also found that it was a fake encounter. But it was not investigated as to what was the motive behind the encounter, he said.

 “It was abundantly clear that the encounter was carried out at the behest of the government. The state government had deputed big lawyers and machineries to protect them. The accused did not get bail for many years. The government wants to protect the accused with the motive that the accused did not depose against the government,” said Pathan, who was counsel for Ishrat Jahan’s mother Shamima Kauser along with prominent lawyer Vrinda Grover.

 In 2019, Shamima Kausar wrote a letter to the CBI court saying that she does not hope that she will get justice in the case. Hence, her counsels will no longer appear in the case.

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Clarion India - News, Views and Insights about Indian Muslims, Dalits, Minorities, Women and Other Marginalised and Dispossessed Communities.

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