Gujarat HC stays arrest of Kuldeep Sharma in encounter case
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court Monday stayed the arrest of IPS officer Kuldeep Sharma, facing murder
charges in a 26-year-old encounter in Kutch district, and also
issued a notice to the state government.
Justice R H Shukla, hearing the case, stayed arrest or
any coercive action against Sharma till August 20 and issued
notice to the state government which is the respondent in the
case. The next hearing of the case is scheduled on August 20.
Sharma had approached the High Court to quash the FIR
filed against him by the state CID in connection with an
encounter, which took place in May, 1984 in Kutch.
His counsel S V Raju contended that the FIR was an act of
vengeance by some powerful members of the ruling party,
because his client made allegations against some minister of
the government.
He said that Sharma was being framed and harassed
unnecessarily because he declined to succumb to political
pressures.
With regard to the incident for which Sharma, who was the
then Superintendent of Police of Kutch, was facing murder
charges, Raju said his client's name does not appear in the
complaint filed in 1984.
He further submitted that Sharma was not even present at
the scene when the encounter took place. Also, the encounter
was a genuine one where the police had fired in self-defence,
he added.