Contempt petition in Guj HC against Arun Jaitley withdrawn

Court observes that since probe in Ishrat encounter case is being monitored by another bench of the same court, the petition should also be filed there

A petition seeking contempt of court proceeding against Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley was filed in the Gujarat High court in connection with the former's article on the CBI investigation going on in 2004 Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case.

The petition came up for hearing on Friday before division bench of Justice Jayant Patel and Justice Z K Sayed. The court observed that since the probe in the Ishrat encounter case was being monitored by another bench of the same court, the contempt petition should also be filed before that particular bench. "Propriety demands that the contempt petition should be heard by the bench which is seized with the original matter," the court observed.

It then granted permission to Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), which had filed the petition, to withdraw it and filed it before the appropriate bench.

Upon this the petitioner withdrew his contempt petition to file it before the bench with is seized with the original case in which number of Gujarat police officers are accused including a ADGP level officer.

The contempt petition was filed by senior counsel Mukul Sinha on behalf of JSM, which has been providing legal help to father of Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, who was among the three others killed along with Ishrat in the encounter nine years ago.

Sinha had sought initiation of contempt of court proceeding against Jaitley for his article  titled 'Should CBI uncover the IB' published on his personal website. The article featured on the leader's blog on June 3 after CBI summoned senior IB ( Intelligence Bureau) officer Rajendra Kumar.

In his article, Jaitley had alleged Congress was behind CBI move to question IB in the Ishrat Jahan case and said such "misuse" of government institutions for political purposes will destroy them. He had further accused the UPA government of harassing the Narendra Modi-led BJP government in Gujarat.

Sinha argued that "by manking wild allegations against CBI and attributing CBI as a tool of central government and having lost all its professionalism and credibility of being independent and impartial agency, the opponent (Jaitley) who is a renowned lawyer and leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha, has not only tarnished the reputation of CBI, but has also at the same time scandalized and lowered the authority of Gujarat High Court (which is monitoring the probe)."

He further argued that with his comments, Jaitley has interfered with and obstructed the judicial process pending before the HC. "In fact, it appears that the primary objective of Jaitley was to obstruct and discourage CBI from uncovering the truth in the case," he added.

Sinha also stated that if strict action under contempt of court act was not initiated against the Jaitley it would completely thwart free and fair investigation by CBI as he holds extremely high position in the society.

The CBI, on the instruction of the Gujarat High Court, had taken over the probe of the alleged fake encounter in which 19-year-old Ishrat, Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed on the outskirts of the city on June 15, 2004, allegedly by a crime branch team led by DIG DG Vanzara.