Gujarat high court is apparently not happy with the 'blame game' the political parties have resorted to following metropolitan magistrate SP Tamang's report over the 'encounter' of Ishrat Jahan and three others. During the hearing of a petition filed by the state government on Wednesday, Justice Kalpesh Jhaveri cautioned the counsel for the Central government over applying 'double standard' over the encounter.
The state government defended itself over affidavit filed by the Central government during an earlier hearing in the high court. The affidavit supported the government version that Ishrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh and two others were operatives of Lashkar-e-Toiba and that a central intelligence agency had provided the tip-off to the crime branch. Now after Tamang report, the Central government is on back foot and initiating action against the officers concerned.
As the hearing began, and assistant solicitor general Pankaj Champaneri was about to start argument, Justice Jhaveri said, "Union government had filed affidavit supporting the Gujarat government. Stop playing with judiciary in the political field. Answer me whether you supported the state government or not?" The court asked the question thrice. "You are the affected party over the report," the court also said. Champaneri had to sit back as he saw an angry court. However, later on, he supported the Tamang report. Mentioning provisions of the law, Champaneri said, "The magistrate can conduct inquiry in such cases."
The court also had a word of caution for Mukul Sinha. "You are playing with fire. Today, you may find yourself in a convenient situation, but five years on you may be in a soup following the political game between the centre and state government."
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