HC can relook into fake encounter case: ex-judge Abhay Thipsay

‘Sohrabuddin Sheikh case has many discrepancies’

Retired Bombay High Court judge Abhay Thipsay.

The controversy surrounding the discharge of senior IPS officers from Gujarat and Rajasthan from the alleged fake encounter case of Sohrabuddin Sheikh got a further boost with retired Bombay High Court judge Abhay Thipsay saying that the High Court has suo motu powers to look into discharge applications and frame charges against the accused.

Mr. Thipsay said he had to give bail to Dr. Narendra Amin and D.G. Vanzara because the Supreme Court had granted bail to Rajkumar Pandiyan and B.R. Chaubey in the alleged fake encounter.

Talking to the media at his office on Wednesday, Mr. Thipsay said the case had many discrepancies: 15 out of the 38 accused had been discharged. “It is unusual that so many witnesses have turned hostile. Despite having prima facie case against many accused, they have been discharged. Discharge is termination of the proceedings,” he said.

“Those who were not granted bail for so many years, even they were discharged. This initially started when Supreme Court granted bail to Rajkumar Pandiyan, (the then Gujarat Superintendent of Police) and B.R. Chaubey (sub-inspector of Gujarat Police) only on the grounds of prolonged pre-trial detention and no prospects of the trial commencing immediately. Higher courts have previously denied bail to many of those who got discharged, which, as common sense suggests, means that there was a prima facie case. But for the trial court to say there is no prima facie case is unusual,” he said.

Mr. Thipsay added, “In this case, the normal process are not followed. The person whose bail was rejected later is discharged. I think discharge applications need to re-examined. Even though a number of accused were granted bail, nobody had said at the time of granting bail that there is no prima facie case.”

Mr. Thipsay also said, “The length of the order is also unusual, the meticulous analysis which is done, as if he writing a judgment with the object of finding someone guilty or innocent.”

Commenting on the controversy of Judge Loya, he said, the death was natural, is what I believe. It is important to know if there was any pressure on him. The telephones he used, we should get call detail records.