Sohrabuddin case: HC quashes PIL questioning Amit Shah’s discharge

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) on Friday dismissed the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Bombay Lawyers Association (BLA) challenging the failure of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to appeal against the discharge of BJP president Amit Shah, named an accused in the Sohrabuddin encounter case till 2014.

A division bench of justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre, while hearing the arguments of BLA, was told by advocate Dushyant Dave that the CBI had been entrusted with the task of investigating the alleged encounter of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kausar Bi and Tulsiram Prajapati in 2005 and 2006. The agency had named 38 persons including Amit Shah as the accused. The other accused were high-ranking officers of Gujarat and Rajasthan police.

Dave argued that till 2014, all the accused faced trial, but when the BJP came to power, Shah and some officers were discharged by the trial court. He argued that the CBI should have challenged the discharge. However, the bench accepted the submissions by additional solicitor general Anil Singh that there was no law which makes it mandatory for the CBI to appeal against every discharge. On behalf of the Union, Singh held that BLA did not have any locus and hence, the PIL should be dismissed. The court accepted the submissions of the Union and dismissed the PIL.HTC