[dropcap]A[/dropcap] special CBI court is likely to pass an order on May 2, 2019 on the applications of retired police officers D G Vanzara and N K Amin seeking the dropping of proceeding against them in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case after the Gujarat government declined the sanction to prosecute them.
Ishrat Jahan’s mother, Shamima Kausar, filed an application on March 26, 2019, challenging the Gurajat government’s refusal to grant sanction to prosecute Vanzara and Amin, for the abduction and murder of her daughter.
The court had concluded hearing in the case on April 16.
Ishrat, a 19-year-old woman from Mumbra near Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed by the Gujarat police in an alleged fake encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. The charge sheet filed by the CBI named several police officers, including Vanzara and Amin.
The two retired police officers have sought proceedings against them in the case be dropped as the Gujarat government has decided not to grant sanction to the CBI to prosecute them as required under section 197 of the CrPC.
In a written submission made through her lawyer Vrinda Grover, Shamina Kauser has said that the pleas to drop proceedings were “untenable in law and unsustainable on facts”, and that the Gujarat government was not the appropriate authority to refuse sanction to prosecute the two officers.
Under section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the government’s sanction is necessary for prosecution of a public servant for an act done as part of official duty.
She contended before the Court that “Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to seek sanction for prosecution was not applicable in the present case that deals with “abduction, confinement and murder,” which were grave and heinous crimes falling outside the scope of official duty.
“The material on record shows that there was no encounter/confrontation with the deceased, that the encounter was set up and a fake encounter staged,” she said.
