The Gujarat Government has declined sanction to prosecute retired police officers DG Vanzara and NK Amin in the alleged fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan and three others, the Central Bureau of Investigation told a special CBIcourt on Tuesday.
The government's decision may pave the way for the controversial case against Vanzara and Amin to be dropped.
After going through a letter submitted to the court by CBI lawyer RC Kodekar, Judge JK Pandya said the sanction to prosecute the two former officers, who were accused in the case, under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), was declined by the state government.
The defence lawyers then sought permission to file an application to drop the proceedings against Vanzara and Amin.
The court granted the request and asked them to file an application on March 26.
It will now be up to the CBI to decide whether to proceed with the case against the two without the government sanction.
As per CrPC Section 197, prior sanction is required from a competent authority to prosecute a public servant.
The court had earlier rejected the discharge pleas of Vanzara,former deputy inspector general of police in Gujarat, and Amin, who retired as superintendent of police, and asked the CBI to clear its stand on whether it wants to get sanction from the state government to prosecute them.
