Bombay HC Upholds Acquittal in Sohrabuddin Sheikh Encounter Case

The Bombay High Court on Thursday upheld the acquittal of 22 police personnel from Gujarat and Rajasthan in the 2005 alleged fake encounter killing of gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kausar Bi, and associate Tulsiram Prajapati. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad dismissed appeals filed by Sheikh's brothers, Rubabuddin and Nayamuddin Sheikh, challenging a 2018 trial court order that cleared all accused.

The court held the prosecution failed to establish the offence of criminal conspiracy, noting that no witness identified the accused as participants in the abductions or killings. Of 210 prosecution witnesses, 92 turned hostile, and the court found no evidence of a physical manifestation of agreement among the accused, which is essential to prove conspiracy under law. The Bench observed that the prosecution's case was further weakened by the discharge of 16 accused on the same evidence, a decision that had attained finality.

Medical evidence was also pivotal in the ruling. The postmortem report by Dr. Dharmesh Somabhai Patel showed no burn marks or smoke deposits on Sohrabuddin Sheikh's body, findings inconsistent with a close-range firing typically seen in fake encounters. The report also noted absence of cadaveric spasm, indicating no extreme stress before death. On Kausar Bi's alleged killing, the court found no corroborative evidence, and no witness testified to witnessing Prajapati's death.

The court dismissed an interim application by Maniar Kalpesh Kumar to challenge the discharge of Amit Shah, accused No. 16, noting the plea was filed without disclosing prior rejections by the High Court and Supreme Court. It observed the applicant provided no legitimate connection to the case and appeared to act with an oblique motive.

The court reaffirmed that an acquittal cannot be overturned without compelling grounds, emphasizing the presumption of innocence in criminal jurisprudence. The ruling brings finality to a case that had drawn national attention over allegations of extrajudicial killings and high-level political involvement.