New Delhi: The CBI was on Tuesday pulled up by
the Supreme Court for questioning the impartiality of
Gujarat`s lower judiciary in hearing the case against former
state Home Minister Amit Shah for his alleged role in
Sohrabuddin Sheikh`s killing by police in a staged shootout.
Taking strong exception to the agency`s plea that lower
judiciary in Gujarat will not deal with the case impartially,
a bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai
sought its explanation for making the statement.
"Let us know whether you want to retain it (allegations
against judicial system) or you want to delete it," the bench
asked the CBI as the Gujarat government pointed out the
allegations made by the agency in its petition to the apex
court, challenging the Gujarat High Court order granting bail
to 46-year-old Shah in the fake encounter case.
The CBI petition had also sought transfer of the case to
a place outside Gujarat.
"Why you said so? It`s contemptuous. Why and how did you
say this?" the bench asked.
Replying to the court`s query, Additional Solicitor
General Vivek Tankha, appearing for the CBI, submitted that he
will satisfy the court on these allegations and wants to
retain them.
The Gujarat government, however, strongly opposed the
agency`s plea and contended that the allegations levelled by
the CBI for not getting free and fair trial were unfounded and
baseless.
It also pleaded that there will be no law and order
problem in the state during the trial and the case must not be
shifted out.
PTI
