Gujarat HC refuses to quash case against Kuldeep Sharma

The Gujarat High court today rejected a petition seeking to quash the criminal proceedings against former IPS officer Kuldeep Sharma and a junior officer at a Bhuj court in connection with a 1984 case of assault.
Justice J B Pardiwala rejected the petition filed by former police inspector G H Vasavada, seeking quashing of the criminal case against him and Sharma for allegedly beating a Kutch-based man called Ibla Sheth in May 1984.
The High Court, however, stayed its order for four weeks to enable the applicant to move the Supreme Court.
Vasavada and Sharma are accused of beating up Sheth, a suspected smuggler, in Sharma's office. Sharma was then the district Superintendent of Police in Kutch.

A police complaint was filed under IPC sections 323 (causing hurt) and 506 for (criminal intimidation).
Bhuj magistrate's court started criminal proceedings against Sharma and Vasavada in September 1984 but both got a stay as the sanction for prosecution of a government servant under section 197 of the CrPC had not been granted.
The state government filed an application before the Bhuj court in 1987, saying that the case be dismissed for want of sanction. However, on February 29, 2012, Gujarat government granted the sanction and the court proceedings started afresh.
Both Kuldeep Sharma and his brother, former IAS officer Pradeep Sharma, have been at loggerheads with the state government for a long time.