SC to review plea against Sohrabuddin encounter acquittals

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a plea against the Bombay High Court order that upheld the acquittal of all 22 accused in the alleged fake encounter killings of gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kausar Bi and aide Tulsiram Prajapati in 2005, while voicing concern that 92 witnesses had turned hostile.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana issued notice on the plea filed by Nayabuddin Shaikh, brother of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, challenging the May 7 judgment of the High Court that acquitted 21 police personnel from Rajasthan and Gujarat and a farmhouse owner.

The bench indicated it would examine selected witness statements relevant 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 acquittal,” CJI said.

Justice Bagchi observed that the fact that 92 prosecution witnesses had turned hostile was a matter requiring consideration, particularly in assessing whether the trial had been fair and just. “Ninety-two witnesses turning hostile is a concern. Whether there was a fair and just trial… that’s to be considered,” Justice Bagchi said. The High Court had dismissed appeals filed by Rubabuddin and Nayabuddin Shaikh against the December 2018 judgment of a special CBI court in Mumbai, which had acquitted all 22 accused.

The CBI had investigated the case after the probe was transferred to it by the Supreme Court.

Of the 22 accused acquitted in the case, 21 were police officers from Gujarat and Rajasthan. The remaining accused was the owner of a farmhouse in Gujarat where, according to the prosecution case, Sohrabuddin and Kausar Bi were illegally detained.

According to the prosecution case, Sohrabuddin, his wife and Prajapati were travelling by bus from Hyderabad to Sangli in Maharashtra when they were allegedly taken into custody by a police team on the night of November 22-23, 2005.

The couple and Prajapati were allegedly taken in separate vehicles. According to the CBI, Sohrabuddin was killed on November 26, 2005, near Ahmedabad in an encounter involving Gujarat and Rajasthan police personnel. Kausar Bi was allegedly killed three days later. Prajapati, who was lodged in Udaipur Central Jail and was considered a key witness to the alleged encounter, was killed in a police encounter near the Gujarat-Rajasthan border on December 27, 2006.

In its judgment, the High Court had held that there was no ground to interfere with the trial court’s acquittal.

It observed that the prosecution case was based largely on circumstantial evidence and that several links in the alleged chain of circumstances were missing.

The High Court had also held that the prosecution failed to establish that Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Kausar Bi were abducted by Gujarat and Rajasthan police personnel or that there was a motive to stage a fake encounter.

It further rejected the contention that the trial was not conducted properly merely because 92 prosecution witnesses had turned hostile.

The special CBI court, while acquitting the accused in December 2018, had held that the prosecution failed to establish a cogent case of a conspiracy to kill Sohrabuddin, Kausar Bi and Prajapati or establish the involvement of the accused in such a conspiracy.