Sohrabuddin case: IAS officer’s plea on withdrawal dismissed

The Bombay high court recently dismissed an application filed by former IAS officer seeking an inquiry to find out why Rubabuddin Shaikh, brother of deceased Sohrabuddin, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter, wanted to withdraw his petition challenging a sessions court order discharging BJP president Amit Shah from the case.

The former bureaucrat Harsh Mander had filed the application after Rubabuddin sought the court’s permission to withdraw his petition challenging Amit Shah’s discharge from his brother’s fake encounter case. Mander, in his application has requested the court to issue direction for an inquiry by an independent agency like CBI to find out if Rubabuddin was under any pressure to withdraw the petition.

In November last year, the high court had allowed Rubabuddin to withdraw his petition after he cited failing health as the reason for his actions. Mander, in his application, said Rubabuddin had from the time his brother was killed in the encounter, followed the case and filed several petitions, including one in the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the trial from Gujarat to Mumbai. He contended that these circumstances show that Rubabuddin could not have withdrawn his petition willingly. He had also urged the court to quash and set aside CBI court’s order discharging Amit Shah from the case.

However, Justice Anuja Prabhudesai in her order passed on March 11, dismissed the petition filed by Mander. He judge held that the application was not maintainable. The judge also said that she would record the reasons separately for rejecting the application.

On December 30, 2014, a CBI Court in Mumbai had discharged Shah in the alleged fake encounter cases saying there existed “no case” against him and that he had been implicated for “political reasons”.