Sohrabuddin encounter case: SC rejects plea against Amit Shah

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a plea by former IAS officer Harsh Mander against the discharge of BJP president Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.

A bench of Justices S A Bobde and Ashok Bhushan said, “A person’s right under the criminal law is to be considered. He had already stood discharged. A person cannot be interminably prosecuted.”

The bench also questioned the locus standi of the petitioner, saying, “You are not somebody who is directly affected. What is your connection to the case? We can’t leave the issue of locus so open that anybody can approach in the matter.”

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Mander, contended that there were statements made (before the magistrate) under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code and in the CBI chargesheet against Shah. But the CBI changed its stand in 2014, he said, indicating it could have something to do with the change of dispensation at the Centre.

He pleaded that the petitioner should be allowed to challenge the discharge order made in favour of Shah by the Mumbai sessions court in December, 2014.

 “The petitioner is not a busybody and in fact is an ex-IAS officer,” Sibal pointed out. “When the person is genuinely aggrieved, then the issue takes a different colour but when the person is not remotely connected and wants to revive the case, then it is a different matter,” the bench said.
DH News Service