Ahmedabad, Apr 29: Stating that ensuring citizens safety was state government's responsibility, the Gujarat High Court today instructed agencies investigating former state home minister Haren Pandya's murder to ‘protect’ all those in its custody and abide by Supreme Court's ruling on the issue. The court gave these directives on a writ petition filed by mother of Abdul Rauf, arrested by CBI from Hyderabad on April 16, stating that she feared for her son's safety if he was handed to city Crime Branch custody for interrogation. Defence advocate Hashim Qureshi told a news agency that the judge D H Vaghela quoted a supreme court ruling, where it had observed that it was state's responsibility to ensure no physical harm be caused to any detenue or arrested person.


Moreover, it was state's duty to protect fundamental right of citizen generally and particulary in case of a petitioner, the court observed.


Additional Public Prosecutor Samir Dave assured the court that the judgement of the apex court would be followed and the court's order would be given directly to respondent, in this case, Gujarat home department and officer in charge of CBI, Gandhinagar, and police inspector of Crime Branch. Bureau Report