Ishrat case: Gujarat high court action surprises Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed surprise over the decision of the Gujarat high court to hand over the investigation of the Ishrat Jahan encounter case to the apex Court-appointed SIT probing 2002 Gujarat riots cases. 

"How can the high court refer that case to the SIT?" a special Supreme Court bench headed by Justice DK Jain said while maintaining that the SIT was constituted by the apex court to probe only 10 cases arising out of the 2002 riots.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, who is assisting the court in the riots cases, said the high court perhaps thought that the SIT was a body constituted to look into any case. "The High Court may correct its direction," he said.

The fact about the Gujarat high court's order was pointed out by the SIT chief R K Raghavan who wanted a clarification from the apex court in the matter.

On August 12, the Gujarat high court had handed over investigations into the case to the SIT headed by Raghavan by rejecting the demand made by the girl's mother, Shamina Kausar, for a CBI inquiry into the incident.