8 adjournments, no prosecutor: How a State decision put 2019 Vadodara custodial death case trial in limbo

An FIR was lodged and chargesheets were filed against eight policemen posted in Vadodara’s Fatehgunj police station at the time, following a habeas corpus petition filed by Salim, though Nisar’s body has not been recovered yet.

The CID (Crime), which is investigating the case, emptied the Narmada canal twice in 2020 to search for the body, after one of the policemen Mahesh Rathwa said in his statement that his car was allegedly used to transport the body and dispose it in the canal around four kms from the police station. Six accused policemen are in judicial custody.

Shaikh, a cloth seller, was allegedly picked up by Fatehgunj police in Vadodara on December 10, 2019 on suspicion of theft and was not seen thereafter. After his son Salim moved a habeas corpus petition in the High Court, an FIR was registered in July 2020 charging six policemen with murder and destruction of evidence.

The six arrested policemen are Inspector D B Gohil, sub-inspector D M Rabari and Lok Rakshak Dal jawans Pankaj Mavjibhai, Yogendra Jilansinh, Rajiv Savjibhai and Hitesh Bhambhaniya.

In 2023, Salim sought the removal of the then Special Public Prosecutor R Shukla in representations before the State Legal department. Thereafter, he moved a petition in the High Court seeking the appointment of a Special Public Prosecutor, arguing that an independent prosecutor was necessary for a fair trial. Following a High Court direction, advocate Ghariya was reappointed in April 2024 and went on to examine more than 60 witnesses while successfully opposing several bail pleas filed by the accused police personnel.

Babu Nisar Shaikh, the Telangana migrant whose family has challenged the Gujarat government’s removal of the special public prosecutor in the alleged custodial death case. (Express Photo)

Arbitrary removal: Family in plea

Salim’s petition seeks quashing of the resolution to remove Ghariya and bring him back in the case especially since Vadodara advocate Atul Vyas, whom the government wanted in his place, declined to accept the assignment, leaving the case without a prosecutor.

The petition, that was not taken up on June 8 following the recusal of the judge, contends that the government did not cite a reason for its decision to replace the special public prosecutor. The plea also states that Ghariya had been appointed pursuant to Gujarat High Court directions in April 2024 after an earlier petition filed by the victim’s family. It argues that the “arbitrary removal undermines the very safeguards put in place by (the High Court) for a fair trial”. The family has also relied upon earlier judicial directions governing the trial.

The Supreme Court in March 2024 had refused to grant bail to one of the accused jawan of Lok Rakshak Dal Hitesh Bhambhaniya, directing that key prosecution witnesses be examined expeditiously, preferably within a year, failing which the accused could renew his bail plea.

In August last year, the Gujarat High Court had rejected the bail application of another accused and while directing completion of the trial within a year.

The court proceedings, officers of the Vadodara District Court said, have already felt the impact. The last hearing in the trial was held on May 29, when six key witnesses were examined, after which Ghariya proceeded on leave following the demise of his mother. He was scheduled to resume duties on June 8, but instead received the government’s withdrawal order.

This week, however, the District Government Pleader appeared before the court during the hearing of a bail application filed by one of the accused police officers, PI D B Gohil and opposed the plea. The court ultimately rejected the bail application.

Gohil had sought bail to appear for a written examination of Diploma in Human Rights and Diploma in Financial Management. The court said, “The record indicates that the applicant is in the habit of seeking temporary bail at regular intervals, and thus, he wants to remain out of the jail under one or another pretext… Moreover, in the present days, the open universities are conducting various courses and examinations in the duration of every 02 – 03 months, and such courses are available all round the year… no exceptional or compelling circumstance has been demonstrated to justify the grant of temporary bail.”

The trial is next scheduled before the sessions court on July 14.

An official of the state legal department said that if a prosecutor declines the assignment, the department would have to make a fresh appointment for the case. The official added that “no decision” has been made in the matter yet