The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday granted a stay on the report of the Ahmedabad Metropolitan Magistrate, S.P. Tamang, declaring the June 2004 police encounter with Ishrat Jehan and three others was “fake.”
A Division Bench, comprising Justices Kalpesh Jhaveri and Z.K. Sayed, also directed the Registrar-General of the High Court to institute a departmental inquiry into the conduct of Mr. Tamang in holding a parallel inquiry into the encounter, when the High Court was already seized of the matter, and submitting the report without its permission.
The High Court, however, allowed the report to be submitted before the three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the top police officers appointed by it, for a fresh look into the encounter. The SIT would be required to act on the report “on merit.”
