The Bombay High Court is set to conduct the crucial final hearing in December on appeals that challenge the acquittal of all 22 accused individuals in the high-profile Sohrabuddin Shaikh alleged fake encounter case. The appeals were filed by Shaikh's brothers, who have called the original trial deeply flawed.
The Long Road to the Final Hearing
The legal battle reached a significant juncture on Wednesday when a division bench comprising Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankadh addressed the pending appeals. The court noted that these petitions have been awaiting resolution since 2019, with only four hearings conducted over the past three years. A notable concern raised was the non-appearance of some of the acquitted accused before the court.
To address this procedural hurdle, the bench directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)—the agency that probed the case—to ensure that notices are served to the absent accused. This service is to be carried out through the officers in charge of the respective police stations where these individuals reside. The case is now tentatively scheduled for its next and potentially final hearing on December 5.
A Timeline of the Controversial Case
The origins of this case trace back to November 23, 2005. On this day, Sohrabuddin Shaikh, a man wanted by the police, his wife Kauser Bi, and his associate Tulsiram Prajapati were allegedly abducted from a luxury bus while traveling from Hyderabad to Sangli in Maharashtra.
According to the CBI's case, Shaikh and Kauser Bi were taken to Gujarat. Prajapati was shown as having been arrested in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, on November 26, 2005. The agency claimed that Shaikh was subsequently killed in a staged fake encounter. In a similar fate, Prajapati was also killed a month later. The CBI further alleged that Kauser Bi was murdered and her body disposed of to eliminate evidence.
The Trial and Acquittal That Sparked Appeals
The trial in this politically sensitive case began in November 2017. Over its course, the court examined a staggering 210 witnesses. However, in a major setback for the prosecution, 92 of these witnesses turned hostile, meaning they did not support the prosecution's version of events in court.
This high number of hostile witnesses proved to be a critical factor in the eventual verdict. On December 21, 2018, a special CBI court in Mumbai acquitted all 22 accused. The individuals cleared included 21 serving and retired police personnel from the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh.
The special court, in its judgment, stated that the prosecution had failed to satisfactorily prove the charges of conspiracy, murder, and other offences against the accused. It specifically pointed out that the key eyewitnesses, who formed the main foundation of the prosecution's case, had turned hostile, thereby crumbling the case's core.
Unsatisfied with this outcome, Sohrabuddin Shaikh's brothers, Rubabuddin and Nayabuddin, filed appeals in 2019, challenging the acquittal and labeling the trial as fundamentally flawed. It is these appeals that the Bombay High Court will now finally hear in December, bringing a potential closure to a case that has spanned nearly two decades.
