Ishrat Jahan Case- No Evidence Of Fake Encounter: CBI Court

Today(31.03.2021), A Special CBI Court discharged all the remaining 3 police officers namely Former IG G L Singhai, Tarun Barot, and SRPF Commando Anaju Chaudhary in the alleged fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan.

Background Of Case:

on June 15, 2004, Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old woman from Mumbra near Mumbai, was killed along with Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Akbarali Rana, and Zeeshan Johar by Gujarat police in an encounter near Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

The police claimed that all four were connected with the Pakistan-based terror group LeT and were in Gujarat to assassinate then Gujarat Chief Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, in order to avenge the riots of 2002.

A probe into the encounter was ordered after Ishrat Jahan's family insisted that she was innocent, and the Mumbai police said she had no criminal background, and their investigation did not find anything that could implicate her. Several politicians and the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission demanded an inquiry. Ishrat's funeral procession was attended by over 10,000 people in Mumbra and the Samajwadi Party state president Abu Azmi said that he would demand a CBI probe into the killings.

The report by the Metropolitan Magistrate S. P. Tamang submitted in the metropolitan court Ahmedabad on 7 September 2009 said the four persons were killed in police custody. It implicated a number of top police officials for the deaths, which were allegedly staged in order to win promotions and rewards.

The Gujarat High Court in August 2010 held that the motive described by magistrate S. P. Tamang in his inquiry report on the Ishrat Jahan encounter case cannot be accepted and also raised doubts on the magistrate's conclusion about the time of death of the four. Following this, A Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Karnail Singh, was set up to probe the case further.

The SIT report concluded that the encounter was fake, after which the CBI registered a case against various police officials.

CBI Court’s Observation :

The CBI Court on 31.03.2021, Discharged the remaining three officers who were accused of the fake encounter.

While passing such order, the court said, "The order is passed with the application of mind and Government has also come to the conclusion that the offences committed by the present applicants are such which have been committed while not proper and there is no evidence against the accused discharging their official duties as police officers and also the investigation against the accused is not proper and there is no evidence against the accused.”

The Court also noted that based on the intelligence input, which was based on 'sound, solid and correct information, Gujarat Police was required to keep watch and supervision on the movement and activities of the above said 4 persons.

In its order court also said that "Number of anti-national and terrorist activates were spread all over India, more particularly in Gujarat State. Being high-rank police officers, it was their boundant duty to take necessary steps in order to maintain law and order."

The CBI special court concluded there was no question of any fake encounter on the part of any such police officer, the Court observed that the seriousness and gravity of information cannot be ignored by high-rank police officers and that they are always dedicated to their duties.