The Hindu : Gujarat High Court questions conduct of Public Prosecutor

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 03, 2004

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Gujarat High Court questions conduct of Public Prosecutor

By Our Special Correspondent

AHMEDABAD, MARCH 2. The Gujarat High Court has stayed the hearing in the Godhra sessions court of a rape-cum-murder trial, questioning the bona fides of the State Government-appointed Public Prosecutor.

The single judge Bench of Mr. Justice C.K. Buch directed the Public Prosecutor, Piyush Gandhi, to appear in person before the court on March 8 so that it could "put to him some questions as to his role as the Public Prosecutor in conducting the trial."

The order was issued on a Criminal Revision Application (CRA) filed by Madinabibi Sheikh, an eyewitness in the Eral massacre, after a Godhra sessions court turned down her plea for re-examination of six key witnesses, including herself. She claimed that the Public Prosecutor had not conducted the examinations properly and that the witnesses had not spoken fearlessly in the court.

Ms. Sheikh's daughter and niece were gang-raped and later killed along with five other family members in a field near Eral village in the Panchamahals district on March 2, 2002. Ms. Sheikh, in a police complaint the next day, had claimed that she had been hiding in a nearby field with her son and had witnessed the rape and murder of her family members by a murderous mob. The police arrested 41 people on the basis of her complaint.

In her CRA, Ms. Sheikh said that Mr. Gandhi should have declared the six witnesses "hostile" after they were found to be suppressing information and after they deposed in a manner that helped the accused. She told the High Court that there were several irregularities in the conduct of the case, and prayed that the witnesses be examined again.

Also, Mr. Gandhi had taken part in a prayer meeting organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on the second anniversary of the Godhra train carnage on February 27.

Though he claimed that his personal life had no bearing on his professional career, his presence along with persons he was supposed to put on trial for committing the Eral crime had cast a shadow on his conduct.

The High Court admitted Ms. Sheikh's CRA and took suo motu cognisance of the matter against the State and the Public Prosecutor and asked him to appear in person before the court. It also stayed the hearings in the Godhra sessions court till the matter was heard by it.

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