Pleas challenging CBI move not to contest shah’s discharge rejected

Mumbai: In a relief to BJP president Amit Shah, the Bombay high court has dismissed two petitions challenging the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI’s) decision not to contest his discharge from the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.

The court held that the petitioner failed to show its locus and approached the court hree years after the discharge order was passed.

The Bombay Lawyers’ Association (BLA) in the PIL had sought direction to the CBI to file a criminal revision application or any other appropriate proceeding against the order dated December 30, 2014, passed by the CBI court discharging Mr Shah from the fake encounter case. Journalist Bandhuraj Lone had sought similar relief in a PIL filed by him. A division bench of Justices Ranjit V. More and Bharati Harish Dangre Friday dismissed both petitions.

The BLA in its petition said that the PIL had been filed to retain public trust and confidence in the statutory authority, CBI. The bench noted that this court had already dealt with such petitions and disallowed them due to want of locus.

According to the judges, aggrieved by Shah’s discharge, Rubabuddin, the brother of deceased Sohrabuddin Sheikh, had filed a revision application. “The said revision application was withdrawn by him on November 23, 2015, by personally filing an affidavit before the court and this court, in his presence, permitted withdrawal of the said application in view of his specific statement that he was a resident of Madhya Pradesh and was suffering from cancer and had also incurred some physical disability, and therefore, was not desirous of continuing the said proceeding.”

The bench further noted that Rajesh Kamble had opposed withdrawal of the petition by Sheikh but did not have a locus so later, withdrew it.

Later, Harsh Mandar fil-ed a petition challenging Mr Shah’s discharge but another bench of this cou-rt also found that he lac-ked locus. The apex court upheld this judgment.