Khwaja Yunus custodial death case: Plea to make 4 cops accused kept on hold till SC’s verdict

The sessions court on Thursday asked the prosecution in the Khwaja Yunus custodial death case to resume the trial, observing that the plea to declare four cops as accused would be kept in abeyance till the apex court’s final verdict.

On Wednesday, the sessions court heard the arguments of a plea, filed by public prosecutor Dhiraj Mirajkar, to make police officers Praful Bhosale, Hemant Desai, Rajaram Vhanmane and Ashok Khot stand trial. The plea was opposed by the officers’ lawyer, Subhash Jha, who contended that though the officers were named in the case, the sanction to prosecute them had been rejected by the state government. Further, he added that even the Bombay high court (HC) had accepted the state’s decision.

Jha pointed out that the petition filed Yunus’s mother in the high court, challenging the refusal of prosecution sanction to several officers by the state, had been rejected. Yunus’s mother then moved the petition to the Supreme Court.

The chief public prosecutor Lata Chheda said that while the subject is pending before the apex court, it should be kept in abeyance. She alleged that the plea was filed without the consultation of the state government.

The court, however, rejected the contention observing that Mirajkar was appointed by the state government and hence, was very much within his right to move a plea.

It further added that Mirajkar had been representing the state at the time when the application was filed. After hearing both sides, the court observed that as the matter is being dealt with by the apex court, the plea here would be kept in abeyance till its verdict.

The court, meanwhile, asked the prosecution to resume the trial and examine further witnesses in the case from the next month.