Ahmedabad: In a landmark judgement, the Gujarat High Court on Thursday ordered retrial even before the trial court pronounces its verdict in the RTI activist Amit Jethva murder case in which former BJP parliamentarian Dinu Solanki is a key accused.
The court set aside the trial in the CBI court, calling it miscarriage of justice, as the trial was managed by Mr. Solanki. “Right from the day Amit was murdered, the manner in which the accused, particularly, Mr. Solanki, have dominated the proceedings, speak volumes of the power they are able to wield,” said Justice J.B. Pardiwala.
The High Court order was based on the fact that 105 of 195 witnesses had turned hostile. “This is the first case in the judicial history that before pronouncement of judgement, the trial has been set aside and retrial ordered before a new judge,” Anandvardhan Yagnik, who appeared for Jethva’s father, told The Hindu .
He said the court has directed the Gujarat government and the CBI to ensure that the retrial is conducted without any influence of money and muscle power.
Justice Pardiwala said, “I am very sorry to say that the presiding officer failed in his solemn duty to reach to the truth. The presiding officer also remained a mute spectator for one reason or the other and continued to witness the drama of mockery of justice.”
Amit, a wildlife and RTI activist in Saurashtra region, was shot dead outside the Gujarat High Court in 2010 when he had filed a PIL exposing rampant mining of limestone in Gir forest.
The case was first probed by the Ahmedabad crime branch, which had filed a charge sheet against five persons while the then Junagadh MP, Mr. Solanki, was given a clean chit. Subsequently, the case was handed over to the CBI, which had arrested and charge-sheeted Mr. Solanki in 2013.
The agency had said that Amit was killed as he was exposing the illegal mining involving Mr. Solanki and his relatives at Kodinar.
