Surendranagar (Gujarat), Jul 23 A court in Gujarat’s Surendranagar has rejected the closure report of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the killing of a wanted criminal and his minor son in police action in 2021 and directed the registration of a criminal case against seven cops.
The court also issued summons and ordered the police personnel to appear before it on August 8.
In the July 18 order, which was made available on Wednesday, Judicial Magistrate First Class KP Sharma allowed a petition filed by the deceased Hanif Khan’s wife Sohanaben, seeking dismissal of the SIT’s C-summary in a case against seven policemen, said her lawyer Punit Dave.
A “C Summary Report” is a closure report filed by the police when an investigation concludes that a case is “neither true nor false”.
The court ordered that a criminal case be registered against the seven policemen under sections 302 (Punishment for murder) and 114 (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, and issued summons, directing them to be present on August 8, Dave said.
The incident occurred on November 6, 2021, at Gedia village in Dasada taluka of Surendranagar district when a team of policemen gunned down Hanif Khan Malek, a wanted criminal, and his minor son, claiming an attack by a mob when they went to arrest him.
The petitioner, however, alleged that policemen, while trying to arrest Malek, had fired two rounds indiscriminately without any provocation, killing him and his son.
The incident was passed off as a genuine encounter, and even after repeated efforts of the petitioner, no FIR was registered against the accused policemen, Dave said.
Later, an FIR was registered against seven policemen in May 2025 on the court’s order, and an SIT was formed to probe the incident.
The SIT, headed by then Dhangadhra Deputy Superintendent of Police JD Purohit, submitted a ‘C-summary’ report in the court two months later, prompting Sohanaben to file a revision petition claiming that the closure report was intended to protect the accused cops.
All important evidence, including the statements of the eyewitnesses present at the time of the incident and an FSL (forensic science laboratory) report, was presented before the court, Dave said.
“The court considered the forensic report and the statements of eyewitnesses while dismissing the C-summary report against the police sub-inspector VN Jadeja and six other policemen. The court also issued them summons, ordering them to appear before it on August 8,” he added.
He said eyewitnesses’ statements and the FSL report suggested that there is no evidence supporting the police’s claim of firing in ‘self-defence’.
