Amit Shah moves court to let him return to Gujarat

The former Gujarat Minister of State for Home, Amit Shah, an accused in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking a direction to relax the bail condition that he should not enter Gujarat.

Soon after the Gujarat High Court granted him bail, the CBI filed an appeal for cancellation of the bail and the matter was being heard by a Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai. The Supreme Court in October 2010 restrained Mr. Shah from entering the State. The present application seeks to relax that condition.

Mr. Shah said he had complied with all the bail conditions, including marking presence before the CBI every month, as stipulated in the order of grant of bail i.e. for a period of one year.

He said: “It is not even the CBI's case that the applicant has, in any manner, interfered with or influenced the investigation in any manner whatsoever.”

He said he had kept his assurance given to the court and never entered Gujarat since October 30, 2010 though he represented one of the largest Assembly constituencies in the country and was holding several responsible positions in various organisations.

He said he was in active public life for about 25 years and had a blotless political career to his credit with no criminal antecedents. He was elected MLA from the Sarkhaj constituency for the last four consecutive terms with increased margin of votes that showed the faith of electorate in him, he said.

A section comprising vested interest political groups had been alleging that many police encounters were taking place in Gujarat and the victims belonged to a particular community, he said. The allegation was deliberately misleading as per records.

Gujarat, which had the longest coastal border and land border with the neighbouring country, faced a potent threat of infiltration of terrorist groups and the number of encounters was minimum as compared to other States. He said tremendous hardship was caused to him and others owing to his long absence from the constituency and the condition not to enter Gujarat “deprives him of discharging several important responsibilities.”

He prayed for a modification of the order passed by the court.