The Gujarat high court on Thursday set up a three-member team comprising senior police officers of the state to investigate the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.
The Gujarat high court on Thursday set up a three-member team comprising senior police officers of the state to investigate the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. The team, consisting of additional DGP Pramod Kumar, IG Mohan Jha and DIG JK Bhatt, has been asked to submit its report within three months.
Ishrat Jahan, a student from Mumbai, and three others were killed in 2004 in an allegedly fake encounter by policemen of the DCB (Detection of Crime Branch).
“Three high-ranking police officers of the state government will conduct further investigation into the genuineness of the encounter,” said Justice Kalpesh Jhaveri on Thursday, during the hearing of a petition filed by Ishrat’s mother, Shamima Kausar. In her petition, Shamima had raised doubts about the encounter and demanded that the case be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
On Thursday, the court also decided the names of the police officers who will be members of the team. “A team consisting of Pramod Kumar, additional DGP, Mohan Jha, IG and JK Bhatt, DIG will conduct the probe while Pramod Kumar shall act as convener of the team,” said Justice Jhaveri.
The special team will be free to appoint subordinate staff, comprising police officers not below the rank of police inspector, to assist it in the investigation. “The team shall furnish the report within three months,” the judge said while adjourning the hearing of the case to November 30.
Earlier, on August 7, the high court had rejected Shamima Kausar’s request that the case be handed over to the CBI.
It had instead suggested that three senior police officers of the state should investigate the case, and asked the state government to furnish a list of police officers who could investigate the encounter case.
On Thursday, advocate general Kamal Trivedi and special counsel for the state JM Panchal submitted a list of police officers from the rank of deputy superintendent of police to additional DGP, before the court. The lawyers also suggested the names of former DGP GC Raigar and former additional DGP MD Meena.
Referring to the appointment of a special investigation team (SIT) led by former CBI director RK Raghvan to re-investigate some of the post-Godhra riot cases, Panchal suggested that former top police officers could investigate the Ishrat Jahan case too. But the court turned down the suggestion saying, “I believe the men in office are answerable.”
The state government’s suggestion was also opposed by Shamima Kausar’s lawyers, Mukul Sinha and Shilpa Shah. They also objected to Shivanand
Jha’s name, saying his name figures in the complaint petition filed by Jakia Jafri in connection with the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat.
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