New Delhi, July 11
The Supreme Court today took a serious view of a large number of witnesses, including policemen, turning hostile in Ujjain’s Prof H S Sabharwal murder case and stayed the trial, saying that it would be a “mockery” of justice if the case continued to proceed in the manner it was going on.
Two top functionaries of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh, are among the key accused in the case.
Taking cognisance of a petition for transfer of the case outside MP, moved by Prof Sabharwal’s son Himanshu, a Bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and D K Jain said the way the trial was going on, it gave an impression that the case might meet the same fate as Gujarat’s Best Bakery trial did initially. While cautioning policemen against resiling their statements in the court during cross-examination because it was not expected from public servants who were to uphold the rule of law, the court issued notice to the MP government seeking its reply why the case should not be transferred out of the state.
Sabharwal’s counsel, senior advocate Vivek Tankha alleged that the prosecution witnesses, particularly the policemen, were turning hostile under pressure from the state government because of the “involvement” of ABVP leaders in the murder.
