Ishrat case: Victim's father files application

Father of one of the persons killed in a police encounter in 2004 along with Ishrat Jahan on Friday filed an application in the Gujarat High Court demanding that hearing on his pending plea seeking Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry in the case begin at the earliest.

Gopinath Pillai, father of Javed Ghulam Sheikh alias Pranesh Kumar Pillai who was one of the three persons killed along with Ishrat, in his application has requested the court to expedite the implementation of Supreme Court order of April 19.

In its April 19 order, the apex court had asked the Chief Justice of the Gujarat high court to constitute a division bench on the petitions filed by the deceased's kith for a CBI inquiry.

According to Rajesh Mankad who filed the application on behalf of Pillai the matter would come up for hearing sometime in the next week.

Mumbai-based Ishrat, 19, was killed in an encounter along with Javed Ghulam Sheikh alias Pranesh Kumar Pillai, Amjad Ali alias Rajkumar Akbar Ali Rana and Jisan Johar Abdul Gani by crime branch officials near Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The Gujarat government had then claimed that Ishrat Jahan and the three others were Lashkar-e-Tayiba operatives on a mission to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

However, the Gujarat government faced an embarrassment after judicial magistrate S P Tamang had on September 7, 2009, held the encounter as fake and sought prosecution of the officers responsible for the killing.

Within two days of the magistrate's findings, a single judge of the high court, on an application by the government, stayed the magistrate's order on the ground that he had exceeded his jurisdiction and also passed adverse remarks against the magistrate.

He also ordered an inquiry by the high court registrar on the conduct of the judicial magistrate. Aggrieved by the high court's order, Shamima Kauser, mother of Ishrat Jahan, and Pillai appealed in the apex court.

Based on their appeal, the Supreme Court set aside the Gujarat HC order directing an inquiry against judicial magistrate Tamang and asked the HC to constitute a division bench on the petitions filed by the deceased's kith for a CBI inquiry.

The apex court also expressed reservations about the manner in which the single judge dealt with the application filed by Gujarat government and dismissed Tamang's report.