Supreme Court Issues Notices in Sohrabuddin Shaikh Encounter Case

The Supreme Court has issued formal notices to 22 acquitted individuals in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case after accepting an appeal challenging their acquittal by the Bombay High Court. A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V. Mohana issued the notices on Monday, September 28, 2026. The notices were issued on a special leave petition filed by Rubabuddin Shaikh, the brother of Sohrabuddin Shaikh. The petition challenges the Bombay High Court's judgment from May 2026 which upheld the trial court's acquittal of all 22 accused.

Background of the 2005 encounter killings and legal proceedings

The case stems from the November 2005 killing of Sohrabuddin Shaikh and his wife Kausar Bi, with the prosecution alleging a fake encounter involving police from Gujarat and Rajasthan, later transferred to CBI and moved to Mumbai for trial. On November 26, 2005, Shaikh was killed in what police initially claimed was an encounter near Ahmedabad. He was travelling with his wife Kausar Bi and associate Tulsiram Prajapati. The prosecution alleged Shaikh was taken by a joint team from the Gujarat and Rajasthan police. It claimed Kausar Bi was killed hours later, her body burnt and remains disposed of in the Narmada River. Following public outcry, the Supreme Court handed the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation in January 2010 and shifted the trial to a Special Court in Mumbai.

Acquittal by lower courts and its judicial affirmation

A special CBI court acquitted the 22 accused in December 2018, a judgment upheld by the Bombay High Court in May 2026, which emphasized the presumption of innocence and the high bar for overturning acquittals. The verdict, authored by Justice Chandrashekhar, reasoned that an acquittal cannot be interfered with casually. It stated the prosecution case rested on circumstantial evidence with 'several broken links in the chain of circumstances'. The High Court found no evidence of a politician-police nexus. It also held that the large number of hostile witnesses did not automatically mean the trial was improper. The acquitted individuals included 21 policemen from Gujarat, Rajasthan, and undivided Andhra Pradesh, and one civilian farmhouse owner from Gujarat.

The present Supreme Court proceedings will not examine the challenge to the discharge of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court had previously rejected petitions challenging Shah's discharge from the case in 2014.

Scrutiny of witness hostility and trial conduct

The Supreme Court Bench has signaled interest in examining the role of 92 hostile witnesses out of 210, whose retractions the trial courts found did not automatically invalidate the proceedings. The bench indicated it would examine selected witness statements relevant to the acquittal. These hostile witnesses had denied their earlier statements which supported the prosecution's claim of a criminal conspiracy.

Related legal developments and prior rejections

The Supreme Court recently dismissed an attempt to re-open the case against former Union Home Minister Amit Shah, whose discharge in 2014 had been previously affirmed by both the Bombay High Court and the apex court. On September 28, the court refused to entertain an intervention application filed by a Mumbai resident, Maniar Kalpesh Kumar. The High Court had said Kumar's efforts were coloured by suppression and political instigation. Dismissing the application, the top court Bench found Mr. Kumar’s application a “misconceived attempt… to reopen issues which have long since attained finality”.

Tulsiram Prajapati, a key witness to the abduction, was killed in another encounter near the Gujarat-Rajasthan border in December 2006. The Supreme Court will examine selected witness statements relevant to the acquittal as part of its proceedings.