The Centre on Wednesday filed a fresh affidavit in the Gujarat High Court in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, saying it had never justified the action of the Gujarat police and had no objection to an independent inquiry in the case.
"The central government was not concerned with the merits of the action taken by the Gujarat police and anything stated in the (earlier) affidavit was not intended to support or justify the action of the state police," the fresh affidavit filed in the high court said.
"If, on a proper consideration of the facts, it is found that an independent inquiry and investigation has to be carried out, the Union of India would have no objection to this and would abide by the decision of the court," the affidavit filed by Under Secretary, Internal Security-VI in the Ministry of Home Affairs, R V S Mani said.
Judicial inquiry in the Ishrat Jahan case, conducted by Magistrate S P Tamang, had concluded that the encounter of the 19-year-old girl was fake.
After Magistrate Tamang's report, the Gujarat government had tried to defend itself by quoting an earlier affidavit filed by the Centre in the high court, which had reportedly stated that Ishrat and three others were linked to terror outfit Laskar-e-Tayiba.