India Tomorrow
New Delhi, July 5— The Supreme Court of India on Friday restored the conviction and sentence of 12 accused in the murder of Gujarat’s former Home Minister Haren Pandya. The trial court had convicted them in 2007 but the Gujarat High Court acquitted them in 2011. Pandya was murdered in 2003.
A Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Vineet Saran pronounced the verdict on the appeals filed by CBI and the Gujarat government challenging the acquittal of 12 persons.
The accused are: Asghar Ali, Mohammad Rauf, Mohammad Parvez Abdul Kayum Sheikh, Parvez Khan Pathan alias Athar Parvez, Mohammad Farooq alias Haji Farooq, Shahnawaz Gandhi, Kalim Ahmeda alias Kalimullah, Rehan Puthawala, Mohammad Riaz Sareswala, Aniz Machiswala, Mohammad Yunus Sareswala and Mohammad Saifuddin.
According to LiveLaw.in, the SC also dismissed a fresh PIL filed by NGO ‘Centre for Public Interest Litigation’ which had sought court-monitored fresh investigation into the killing.
Pandya was state Home Minister in the then Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government when he was shot dead on March 26, 2003 in Ahmedabad near Law Garden during morning walk.
The state government and CBI said that Pandya was murdered to avenge the 2002 Gujarat riots. The riots that erupted across Gujarat following the Godhra train carnage killing around 60 people had claimed lives of around 2000 people, mostly from the minority community.
While the trial court convicted the 12 accused for the murder in June 2007, the Gujarat High Court acquitted all of them in August 2011.
While acquitting them, the HC had termed the investigation as “botched” and “misdirected”. In the judgement, the HC had observed: “The investigation officers concerned ought to be held accountable for their ineptitude resulting into injustice, harassment of many persons concerned and enormous waste of public resources and public time of the Courts.”
The HC verdict was challenged in the Supreme Court by CBI and the Gujarat state police. The top court admitted their appeals on January 5, 2012. After about 7 years of hearing, the top court had reserved its verdict on January 31 this year.
