AHMEDABAD, Aug 7:
A special CBI court here today rejected the discharge applications of former Gujarat Police officers D G Vanzara and N K Amin in the alleged fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan and three others.
While rejecting their discharge applications, special judge J K Pandya directed the CBI to clarify whether the Gujarat Government had given sanction for prosecution of the two accused, as required under CrPC section 197.
Under section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the permission of Government is required to prosecute a Government servant.
The court said it wants the prosecution sanction status of the two to be brought on record, and kept the matter for hearing on September 7.
Vanzara, a former deputy inspector general of police in Gujarat, had sought discharge on the ground of parity with the state’s former in-charge Director General of Police P P Pandey, who was discharged in the case in February for want of evidence against him.
Amin, who retired as the Superintendent of Police, sought his discharge on the ground that the encounter was genuine and that testimonies of witnesses produced by the CBI were not reliable.
The CBI has not initiated the procedure for seeking sanction to prosecute seven officers, including Vanzara and Amin, named as accused in the charge sheet.
The probing agency had earlier sought the Union Government’s sanction to prosecute four Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials, whose names figured in the case’s supplementary charge sheet, which was rejected by the Centre.
Reacting to the high court’s order today, Vanzara’s lawyer V D Gajjar said, “We are happy that the court has directed the CBI to give a report on the status of Government’s sanction to prosecute Vanzara.”
“Earlier, the court had discharged former in-charge DGP P P Pandey (also an accused in the case) on the ground that the CBI had not sought the Government’s sanction to prosecute him. The same rule applies to us as well,” he said. (PTI)
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