New Delhi, 11 April 2013

The Gujarat government has filed curative petition in Supreme Court seeking quashing of the order of shifting the trial of criminal Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case to Maharashtra.

The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam had ordered shifting of criminal Sohrabuddin encounter case outside Gujarat on September 27, 2012.

The curative plea states that the transfer of petition incorporates CBI’s purposefully misleading assertion that it has received more than 200 complaints of extortion, threats and other serious offences against the accused. However, it is really unfortunate that the CBI, largely perceived as a prime investigating agency, has resorted to a blatant falsehood which has tarnished the image of Gujarat. The bench which handed over the encounter probe to the CBI and also shifted the trial outside Gujarat would be biased if the same bench would hear the petition.The CBI has never mentioned on affidavit that the trial requires to be transferred because the case has proceeded in a particular direction. In absence of such contention, no party to the proceedings had an opportunity to deal with the issue on which the trial was transferred outside Gujarat. Transferring the case outside Gujarat had violated the principle of natural justice.