The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a petition challenging the Bombay High Court judgment upholding the acquittal of 22 accused, including 21 police personnel, in the 2005 encounter case involving Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kausar Bi and aide Tulsiram Prajapati.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana issued notice on the plea filed by Rubabuddin Shaikh, Sohrabuddin’s younger brother.
The Court expressed serious concern over 92 out of 210 prosecution witnesses turning hostile during the trial. Justice Bagchi noted that despite the concurrent findings, it remains necessary to evaluate whether the trial was fair and just.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant stated that the Bench intends to issue notice and review select witness statements to independently satisfy itself regarding the fairness of the trial.
Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, appearing for Rubabuddin, alleged that Sohrabuddin, Kausar Bi and Tulsiram were victims of a “fake encounter” and argued that the acquittal required reconsideration.
Senior Advocate K Parameshwar, appearing for some of the acquitted accused, submitted that the case involved concurrent findings of acquittal based on reasoned judgments.
The Bench clarified that it would not examine the challenge to the discharge of Amit Shah, which had been dealt with separately by the Bombay High Court.
Sohrabuddin was allegedly abducted while travelling by bus from Hyderabad to Maharashtra in 2005 and was subsequently killed in an encounter near Ahmedabad. Kausar Bi was killed three days later, while Tulsiram Prajapati was killed in another encounter in 2006.
The Supreme Court had transferred the probe from the Gujarat CID to the CBI and shifted the trial to Mumbai.
In 2018, the Special CBI Court acquitted all the accused. The Bombay High Court recently upheld the acquittals, finding several gaps in the prosecution’s circumstantial evidence and holding that the hostile witnesses, by themselves, did not establish an unfair trial.
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