Sohrab Trial: All 92 crucial witnesses turned ‘hostile’, sank the case

Mumbai: Unfortunately, one of the most politically sensitive cases from BJP-ruled Gujarat state that has come as a shocker for Muslim community turned into grave disappointment with culprits walking away as free men after the special CBI Judge acquitted 22 accused in the Sohrabuddin’s fake encounter case yesterday.

The Special Judge declared the witnesses as hostile in the case as they abruptly resiled from their alleged pretrial statements given to the CBI. A witness is declared as hostile when he refuses to tell the truth or gives a biased statement against the one that has already been recorded before the trial begun or denies from his pretrial statements.

92 out of 210 witnesses who were crucial in the case to prove the abduction of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kausarbi and his associate Tulsiram Prajapati from a bus near Hyderabad all turned hostile.

Statement of Tulsiram’s presence in the bus turned hostile while the 50th eyewitness to the abduction was also declared hostile on April 18, 2018.

The woman witness denied from her earlier pretrial statements given to CBI where she had stated that on the midnight of November 22, 2005, while on a bus from Hyderabad to Sangli, the bus was abruptly stopped and some men identifying themselves as cops took them two men and burqa-clad woman with them.

Denying from pretrial statements she said she was asleep during the whole journey and that her husband was also present along with his parents in the journey.

The woman’s husband and father-in-law too were declared hostile while her mother-in-law passed away before the trial begun on November 29,2017.

Sohrabuddin’s brother too resiled from his alleged statement and said Prajapati was not present with his brother and wife during the abduction.