The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a plea challenging the Bombay High Court judgment upholding the acquittal of 22 accused, including 21 police officers, in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Shaikh, Kausar Bi and Tulsiram Prajapati encounter case. The petition has been filed by Rubabuddin Shaikh, brother of Sohrabuddin Shaikh.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana issued notice to the acquitted persons. During the hearing, the Bench expressed concern over the fact that 92 of the 210 prosecution witnesses had turned hostile during the trial. Justice Bagchi observed:
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“92 witnesses turning hostile is a serious concern. Although it was a concurrent finding, whether there was a fair and just trial, that’s to be considered.”
The Chief Justice also indicated that the Court wanted to examine the statements of some of the witnesses before proceeding further. Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, appearing for Rubabuddin Shaikh, submitted that the case concerned what the petitioner described as a “fake encounter” involving the killing of his brother, sister-in-law and his brother’s aide. He submitted that the acquittals were substantially founded on witnesses turning hostile and urged the Court to examine the matter afresh.
Appearing for some of the acquitted accused, Senior Advocate K. Parameshwar submitted that the acquittals represented “concurrent findings of acquittal by very reasoned judgments.” Justice Bagchi, however, questioned the large-scale hostile testimony, asking:
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“You should satisfy our conscience, wholesale witness turning hostile!”
The Supreme Court, however, made it clear that it would not re-examine the discharge of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the case as both High Court and Supreme Court has already dealt with that matter.
The case arises from the alleged abduction and subsequent encounter killings of Sohrabuddin Shaikh and his wife Kausar Bi in 2005, followed by the killing of Tulsiram Prajapati in 2006. The investigation was transferred to the CBI and the trial was shifted from Gujarat to Mumbai by the Supreme Court.
The Special CBI Court in Mumbai had acquitted all the accused in 2018. The Bombay High Court, while recently upholding the acquittals, found that the prosecution had failed to establish its case, noting gaps in the circumstantial evidence. It also held that the large number of hostile witnesses, by itself, did not establish that the trial had been improperly conducted.