Ishrat Jahan’s mother, Shamima Kausar, has filed an application challenging the Gurajat government’s refusal to grant sanction to prosecute two of the accused police officers, D H Vanzara and N K Amin, for the abduction and murder of her daughter.
The application was filed on March 26, 2019 in the local CBI court in Ahmedabad.
In her application, Shamina Kausar stated that “in orders in August 2018, this Court rejected the theory that the applicant’s daughter was killed in an encounter and held that the charge-sheet prima facie showed that the encounter was staged.”
The Gujarat government recently refused to grant sanction required under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code to prosecute the officers, contending that the two accused officers were doing their official duty and therefore could not be prosecuted.
Discharged challenged by Ishrat Jahan’s mother
In her application, Ms Shamina Kausar stated that “in orders in August 2018, this court rejected the theory that the applicant’s daughter was killed in an encounter and held that the charge-sheet prima facie showed that the encounter was staged”.
Ms Kausar stated that “the order refusing sanction for prosecution of A-3 (Amin) and A-5 (Vanzara) will have far reaching consequences, not only with regard to A-3 and A-5 but will also impinge on the merits of the case as the charge sheet shows that both A-3 and A-5 are a part of a criminal conspiracy in pursuance of which the Applicant’s (Ms Kausar’s) daughter was murdered. The rejection of sanction for prosecution of A-3 and A-5 is bound to hinder the trial court from arriving at the true facts of the illegal confinement of her daughter and others”.
The rejection of sanction for prosecution of Amin and Vanzara is bound to hinder the trial court from arriving at the true facts of the illegal confinement of her daughter and others, Shamina Kausar has said.
Ms Kausar had filed a writ petition on August 11, 2004 at the Gujarat High Court, seeking restraint of the ongoing investigation by the Gujarat Police and an investigation into the death of her daughter by the Central Bureau of Investigation. She asserted in her application that “it was due to the judicial process initiated by her writ petition that the truth of the criminal conspiracy behind the unlawful and extra judicial killing of her daughter and others was revealed”.
Ishrat Jahan along with Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged fake encounter by police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.
In her application, Ms Kausar sought a copy of the government’s report on the refusal to grant sanction and asked that her application be heard “in order to prevent a grave miscarriage of justice”.
The Ishrat Jahan case
Ishrat Jahan, along with Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged fake encounter by the Gujarat police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.
