Kochi: The state government received a temporary relief from the High Court on Wednesday in the Shuhaib murder case with the division bench granting an interim stay of the single bench order to conduct a CBI probe into the case.
The division bench stayed the single bench order till March 23, the date for the next hearing of the case. The government had filed an appeal against the verdict of the single bench. The counsel for the parents of S.P. Shuhaib, Youth Congress leader of Mattanuur, Kannur, opposed the appeal and pointed out that a five-member bench of the Kerala High Court in 1992 had ruled that the division bench does not have the authority to consider the writ appeal and only the Supreme Court could do it.
The division bench observed that if the argument is correct, it would have serious consequences and the matter needed to be considered in detail and posted the case for further hearing.
The counsel for the government submitted that the single bench order for a CBI probe was immature, unprecedented and emotional. The court did not even consider the plea for examining the case diary, the appeal pointed out. The government also submitted that there was no failure on the part of the police in the probe and submitted that 11 accused have been arrested.
The single bench had not given an opportunity to the government to explain its position in the petition filed by the parents of Shuhaib seeking a CBI probe, the counsel said.
The police has mentioned all details of the probe in the case diary which will be handed over to the division bench in a sealed cover, the counsel said.
The court considered only the arguments of the petitioners. The police constituted a special investigation team within 48 hours of the murder and two of the accused were arrested within a week. The police also recovered the weapons and the vehicles used by the accused and all these factors were mentioned in the case diary. The court has not examined the case diary. The counsel stated that the case diary will be handed over to the division bench in a sealed cover.
