Ishrat Jahan 'Encounter': CBI Court Discharges Remaining Three Accused Police Officers

Ishrat Jahan case accused discharged: A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court Wednesday discharged the last remaining accused, three police officers, in the Ishrat Jahan 'encounter' case from 2004. The court observed in its order that IPS officer GL Singhal, retired officer Tarun Barot and SRPF commando Anaju Chaudhari acted as per "their duties."

All six accused officers in the case, which related to the encounter of a 19-year-old woman named Ishrat Jahan along with three men on claims they were terrorists, have now been discharged without trial. Unless the CBI appeals against the discharge, their trial has practically come to a close.

Ishrat Jahan Case Accused Discharged, Court Says 'Encounter' Not Fake

The discharge order was passed by CBI judge VR Raval at an Ahmedabad court. "The act which is alleged to have been done by the accused was in discharge of their duties or purported to be in discharge of their duties," it noted.

Judge Raval also noted that "prima facie, there was nothing on record to suggest” that those killed by police in 2004 were not terrorists. "Number of antinational and terrorist activates were spread all over India, more particularly in Gujarat State. Being high rank police officers, it was their boundant duty to take necessary steps in order to maintain law and order," the court said.

Background To The Ishrat Jahan Case

In June 2004, Ahmedabad crime branch and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau officials were accused of killing Ishrat Jahan, a woman from Maharashtra, and Javed Ghulam Sheikh, Zeeshan Johar, Amjad Ali Rana upon claims they were Pakistan-affiliated terrorists plotting to assassinate Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat.

An Ahmedabad court in 2009 ruled that the encounter was staged whereafter a Special Investigation Team in 2011 and the CBI in 2013 came to similar conclusions. The findings were disputed by the state government. The CBI had proceeded to register a case on the accused police officers under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act. All officials have now been discharged.