Ishrat case: SC forces two Gujarat police officers to resign
Cops accused in Ishrat case were reappointed after retirement.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday forced two senior Gujarat police officers — N.K. Amin and T.A. Barot — to resign. The two were accused in the Ishrat Jahan abduction and fake encounter case and re-appointed after retirement on contract for one year by the state government.
The two cops’ resignation came within hours of the duo giving an undertaking — that they will demit office — to the apex court during a hearing on former IPS officer Rahul Sharma’s petition challenging their re-induction despite their “questionable track record”.
Mr Amin is out on bail in the Ishrat Jahan case and faces allegations of firing at her and her companions in 2004. He served eight years in judicial custody following his arrest in August 2007. He was also named as an accused in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case but was discharged by court in 2016 due to lack of preliminary evidence against him.
Mr Barot spent close to three years in judicial custody and retired in 2014 while still in jail. He is out on bail since 2015 and faces allegations of abducting and illegally confining Ishrat Jahan and her companion Sadiq Jamal, both later killed in fake encounters. A bench of Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud made it clear to senior counsel Gurukrishna Kumar, appearing for the two officers, that the they must step down on Thursday itself.
The bench rejected counsel’s request to give more time to the two for resignation and disposed Mr Sharma’s petition. Mr Amin, a doctor-turned-police officer, who retired in August 2016 as superintendent of police (SP), was re-appointed in the same month as SP of Mahisagar district and later shifted to Tapi.
“We have decided to step down to save the government from any embarrassment. Apart from police service, there are many other ways to serve the people. I thank the people… of Gujarat for their love and support,” Mr Amin said in Ahmedabad.
Mr Barot was re-inducted for one year after his retirement in October 2016 as deputy superintendent of police by Western Railways at Vadodara. “What else was I supposed to do after the Supreme Court asked us to step down. I have sent my resignation today to the state government,” he said in Ahmedabad.