SC relief for Kuldip Sharma in assault case

NEW DELHI: In a relief to former IPS officer of Gujarat cadre Kuldip Sharma, who had been at loggerheads with Narendra Modi when he was the chief minister, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed the state government's 2012 decision to grant permission to prosecute him in an assault case 28 years after the incident.
The state government, then headed by Modi, had granted sanction to prosecute Sharma for allegedly assaulting a suspected smuggler in a police station in 1984 when he was SP of Kutch district.
Sharma had moved the Supreme Court after the Gujarat HC on April 30 dismissed his plea to quash the criminal case against him.
A bench of Justices V Gopala Gowda and C Nagappan agreed to hear the plea of Sharma who alleged that he was being targeted for his stand against Modi when he was the CM. The court also stayed trial court proceedings against him.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Sharma, said it was a unique case when the sanction was granted 28 years after the incident. He said the state government and then CM tried "every trick in the book to send the officer behind bars". "It is very well known why such action was taken against him and the state government was hell-bent to wreck ... Sharma," he said.
The court after a brief hearing issued notice to the state government seeking its explanation for delay in granting sanction.
A complaint was filed against Sharma and his junior officer G H Vasavadaon on May 8, 1984 for allegedly hurting and intimidating a person in police station. But the state government granted sanction to proceed against them in February 2012.
Challenging the state government decision in the Supreme Court, Sharma said the decision was taken to harass him because of his "differences" with Modi. He said the powers of grant of sanction U/s 197 of CrPC has become a tool to pressure and intimidate honest and diligent officers at the behest of politicians.
Bhuj magistrate's court started criminal proceedings against Sharma and Vasavada in September 1984 but both got a stay as the sanction for prosecution had not been granted.
The Gujarat government filed an application before the Bhuj court in 1987, saying that the case be dismissed for want of sanction. However, on February 29, 2012, the state government granted the sanction and court proceedings started afresh.