Warrant issued against former IPS officer Kuldeep Sharma in 1984 wrongful confinement-assault case

Bhuj, Oct 10 (PTI) A sessions court in Gujarat's Bhuj city has issued a warrant against former IPS officer Kuldeep Sharma after he failed to obtain either a stay order or bail from the High Court in a 1984 wrongful confinement and assault case in which he was earlier sentenced to three months' imprisonment.

The court of sessions judge Dilip Mahida on Thursday issued a warrant for Sharma's custody after he failed to obtain a stay order or bail from the High Court within 15 days in the 1984 case in which he was sentenced to three-month imprisonment in February this year, the complainant's lawyer RS Gadhvi said.

Sharma had earlier filed an appeal against his conviction in the lower court, which was rejected on September 24. He then filed an application seeking time to appeal against the order in the High Court. The court granted him 15 days to either get a stay order or bail or be taken into custody, Gadhvi said.

The period expired on October 8, after which the complainant approached the sessions court for issuance of warrant against him, Gadhvi added.

The case pertains to the assault of Congress leader Abdul Haji Ibrahim (now deceased) who had raised the issue of purported harassment of innocent people by police.

Sharma was the superintendent of police of Kutch district when the incident occurred in May 1984.

The court had also sentenced former police inspector GH Vasavada to three-month imprisonment.

It had imposed fine of Rs 1,000 each on Sharma and Vasavada, who were convicted under section 342 of Indian Penal Code for wrongfully confining Ibrahim in his office in 1984.

The trial in the four-decade-old case was expedited after the Supreme Court directed the Bhuj court to complete the proceedings within three months.

A complaint was filed in the Bhuj court by one Shankar Joshi, who was part of a Congress delegation that included Ibrahim, seeking action against Sharma, Vasavada, and two other accused (who are now deceased) under sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

Sharma, who joined IPS in 1976, had played a prominent role as the head of the state CID in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh alleged fake encounter case.

A separate case of a fake encounter was registered against him on an application filed by Kutch resident Jusab Juma Mokha, who alleged five members of his family were killed by police in 1984 when Sharma was the Kutch SP.

The High Court in August 2010 quashed the FIR against him in the alleged encounter case. PTI COR KA PD BNM