Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on each of the three witnesses who tried to withdraw themselves as witnesses in the 2018 murder of a lawyer in Jamnagar. Land mafia kingpin Jaysukh Ranpariya, alias Jayesh Patel, is the main accused in this case.
While rejecting petitions and imposing fines on the witnesses to set an example, Justice Sandeep Bhatt said that the accused persons had taken “backdoor control” and influenced the witnesses.
The three petitioners were Kamlesh Patel, Dinesh Thakkar and Satish Shah, who are cited in the chargesheet as witnesses in the murder of senior advocate Kirit Joshi, who was stabbed in full public view in Jamnagar town in 2018.
They urged the HC to order the removal of their names from the chargesheet, claiming that they never gave any statement before the police, and were wrongly cited as witnesses.
The HC did not approve of this conduct and stated that the witnesses have no locus to file such a petition before the HC, and can clarify their stand before the trial court in a proper manner.
The HC stated, “This act clearly indicates that the accused persons are trying to win over the witnesses. On one hand, the main accused is not cooperating with the investigating agency and went abroad, and on the other hand, they are now contacting the concerned witnesses and filing such baseless petitions, that too, after a period of almost seven years without mentioning the source of information from where they received information about such a statement being recorded by the police authority and which is now part of the chargesheet.”
The HC also said that it cannot exercise its extraordinary powers “in any litigation which is apparently arising from suspicious circumstances and clearly indicates the backdoor control of the accused persons.”
It further stated, “For the fair trial, the witnesses are also required to be protected. They should not change their version like the present one in a very casual manner. Therefore, the Court has to read between the lines about such matters and also restrain frivolous litigation, like the present one.”
The HC termed the litigation as an attempt to interfere with the administration of justice and amounting to abuse of the process of law. It ordered the petitioners to deposit Rs 1 lakh each with the Gujarat High Court Legal Services Authority within two weeks.