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Journalism of Courage
A Dahod sessions court today deferred until May 1 the hearing on the bail plea of the 14 accused in the Bilkis rape case even as the investigating officer in the case told the court that he had been threatened by some of the accused lodged in Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati jail.
The plight of Bilkis Yakub Rasool, gangraped when she was five months pregnant while 14 of her relatives were killed in March 2002, was highlighted by The Indian Express. It’s the first Gujarat riot case being probed by the CBI on the orders of the Supreme Court.
Five different bail applications were moved by the accused through their counsel Arvind Pandya before sessions judge V B Mayani. However, the CBI counsel submitted before the court that the original case papers of the Limkheda police station were still with the CBI’s Mumbai office. The CBI counsel sought time so that investigators could submit the original papers.
While Pandya was arguing the case, investigating officer K N Sinha submitted an affidavit before the court alleging that he had been threatened by some accused when he had gone to the Sabarmati jail to take their photographs as per the court’s directive.
Pandya opposed the contention, claiming that if the officer had been threatened why had he not approached the court earlier. Arguing that the CBI was adopting delaying tactics on the bail plea, the defence counsel prayed that the plea should not be deferred. But the court posted the matter to May 1 and ordered the CBI to furnish complete details on that day.
The CBI has so far arrested 14 persons including three policemen, a local BJP leader and an advocate. The agency has already filed a chargesheet against 20, including two doctors of a hospital in Limkheda and four more Gujarat police officials.
