Indore: A CBI court on Thursday reserved its judgement in the Shehla Masood murder case.
Shehla was shot dead outside her house in Bhopal's Koh-e-Fiza locality on August 16, 2011.
After short arguments by senior public prosecutor Hemant Shukla and Saba Farooqui's defence lawyer Sunil Srivastava, special CBI court judge Anupam Srivastava reserved its judgement on a petition filed by the senior public prosecutor seeking permission to examine main accused Zahida Parvez and her accomplice Saba Farooqui separately, by a lady inspector in judicial lock-up to find out the origin of exhibits.
Defending the petition filed in the court on January 10, the CBI prosecutor said that permission was necessary to find out the origin of exhibits such as the handkerchief, used condom and human hair found in the possession of Zahida and Saba, besides identities of persons.
Saba's lawyer Srivastava had filed a five-page objection against the petition, saying that re-examination of his client was "illogical and an infringement of human rights of a person under going trial and living in lock-up for the last eight to nine months".
"The CBI should tell the court whether any person linked with exhibits such as a used condom should also be named in the case or be examined," Srivastava said.
The CBI cannot compel any accused to make statements against herself, when she is under trial, the defence lawyer argued.
He questioned if CBI's chargesheet produced in 90 days was drafted under pressure, and whether it wanted to examine the same accused in custody by misusing Section 170 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) so that it could rectify its chargesheet.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 24, 2013, 18:00