The Bombay High Court on Monday admitted an appeal filed by two brothers of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, challenging the acquittal of 22 accused in the killing of their brother, sister-in-law Kausar Bi, and his aide Tulsiram Prajapati in 2005.
On April 18, Rubabuddin and Nayabuddin filed the appeal through advocate Gautam Tiwari, seeking that the trial court’s order acquitting all the accused be set aside, and urging the HC to direct retrial.
The petition said, “The order passed on December 21, 2018, is full of perversity... The special Central Bureau of Investigation judge based his judgment on unwarranted assumptions and manifestly erroneous appreciation of evidence. The court not only chose to discard the testimony of more than 118 prosecution witnesses but also completely ignored the evidence on record.”
“The judge refused to recall two witnesses. The judge devoted time and effort to negate every prosecution witness. After purported minute scrutiny of the evidence at hand, the judge concluded that thereis no evidence to prove the complicity of the accused in the alleged crime – fake encounter of Sohrabuddin and Tulsiram, the killing of Kauser Bi, and disposal of her body.”
It mentioned a direction from the Supreme Court that the “administrative committee would assign the case to a court where the trial may be concluded judiciously without any delay. The committee would also ensure that the trial should be conducted from beginning to end by the same officer.”
The plea pointed out that the trial has seen different judges — the first one was transferred, the second one died, the third was also transferred, while the fourth was set to retire after delivering the judgment, which makes the judgment void.
