The Supreme Court on Monday posted for hearing on July 25 a special leave petition filed by former IAS officer, Harsh Mander, challenging an order of the Bombay high court upholding the discharge of B
The Supreme Court on Monday posted for hearing on July 25 a special leave petition filed by former IAS officer, Harsh Mander, challenging an order of the Bombay high court upholding the discharge of BJP president Amit Shah in the ‘Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.’
A bench of Justices S.A. Bobde and Ms R. Banumathi fixed the date of hearing after brief submissions from petitioner’s counsel, seeking time for filing additional documents.
On December 30, 2014 a CBI court in Mumbai had discharged Mr Shah in the alleged fake encounter case saying that there existed “no case” against him and that he had been implicated for “political reasons.” This year in March, the high court had upheld this order holding that Harsh Mander was not an aggrieved party in the case and that his petition was not maintainable.
The present appeal by Mr Mander is against this order. He submitted that Rubabuddin, brother of Sohrabuddin, who has been fighting this case for over 10 years, was prevailed upon to withdraw his petition by threat, inducement and promise. He had therefore become an applicant in the interest of justice. If the order is allowed to continue, there will be miscarriage of justice.
Mr Mander said that the case against Sohrabuddin is not merely a crime of murder but a gross case of custodial murder. The crime has caused grievous violence, trauma, fear and loss not only to the interested parties but also to the entire law abiding society. The state is required to act on behalf of the society at large, and the action of the CBI in not challenging the special court order of discharge had resulted in the abuse of the process of law thereby resulting in a gross failure of justice. He also wanted an enquiry on why Rubabuddin withdrew his petition against Mr Shah.
