Ishrat Jahan fake encounter: Vanzara and Amin discharged

[dropcap]A[/dropcap] special CBI court has discharged retired police officers D G Vanzara and N K Amin in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case after the Gujarat government declined the sanction to prosecute them.

Special CBI court judge J K Pandya yesterday said  proceedings against the two police officers would be dropped as the government had not sanctioned their prosecution.

Ishrat, a 19-year-old woman from Mumbra near Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed by the Gujarat police in an alleged fake encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.  The charge sheet filed by the CBI named several police officers, including Vanzara and Amin, for the abduction and murder of the young woman.

After the Gujarat government decided not to grant sanction to the CBI to prosecute them as required under section 197 of the CrPC, the two retired police officers had sought proceedings against them in the case be dropped.

Ishrat’s mother, Shamima Kausar, filed an application on March 26, 2019, challenging the Gujrat government’s refusal to grant the sanction.

In a written submission made through her lawyer, Shamina Kauser had said that the pleas to drop proceedings were “untenable in law and unsustainable on facts”, and that the Gujarat government was not the appropriate authority to refuse sanction to prosecute the two officers.

Under section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the government’s sanction is necessary for prosecution of a public servant for an act done as part of official duty.

The court had concluded hearing in the case on April 16.