Indian Express: Ahmedabad: Tuesday, 14 May 2024.
Six days after the Gujarat High Court acquitted former BJP MP Dinu Solanki and six others in the 2010 Amit Jethwa murder case, the slain RTI activist’s father Bhikhabhai died at a Bhavnagar hospital on Sunday night. He was 69.
Jignesh, Bhikhabhai’s eldest son after Amit, said, “He was discouraged by the Gujarat High Court verdict and started keeping unwell from Tuesday (May 7, a day after the verdict was pronounced). On Saturday (May 11) he couldn’t move and was first taken to a treatment centre at Mahuva but they did not have the advanced facilities of MRI machines. So he was then taken to the Bhavnagar Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhavnagar city. The test results were normal and he was on drips and the doctors were positive that he will be discharged in two days or so.
“But on Sunday (May 12) at around 8.30 pm, his pulse and heart rate dropped. He was also admitted to the ICU but was ultimately pronounced dead due to a sudden cardiac arrest. He wanted his body to be donated to the Jamnagar government hospital but it was not possible. Hence we donated the body to the government hospital in Bhavnagar.”
Bhikhabhai suffered a paralytic attack in 2001 and was on medications for diabetes and high blood pressure, added Jignesh.
The last rites are being performed at Khambha village in Amreli, where he hailed from and resided in. He is survived also by his wife Nandanben, son Bhavin and daughter Payal.
Bhikhabhai was at the forefront of pursuing justice for his slain son. Mahesh Makwana, who worked with Bhikhabhai, said the latter was planning to move the Supreme Court on May 16 against the high court’s acquittal verdict. The seven accused in the case were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder by a special CBI court in Ahmedabad in 2019.
Jignesh, who works at Gandhidham, said the family would now take a call as to who would be the petitioner. “We will continue the fight. He was dealing entirely with the case. So we don’t have a lot of ideas, but being the second son, I’m ready to continue the fight.”
Murder after exposure of MLA’s illegal mining
In 2010 Amit Jethwa, through an RTI application, uncovered then BJP MP Dinu Solanki’s involvement in illegal mining within a radius of five kilometres from the boundary of the Gir sanctuary area. He initiated litigation in the high court in this regard. On July 20, 2010, Jethwa was shot dead by two people opposite the court, outside the Bar Council building, in the evening. Initially, the case was investigated by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch and two chargesheets against six accused people were filed by the police.
At the time Amit Jethwa’s father sought an investigation by an independent body such as a special investigation team or the CBI, but the plea was initially rejected. Bhikhabhai then moved the high court a second time, seeking investigation by an independent agency.
Accordingly, on September 25, 2012, the high court directed a CBI inquiry. The CBI subsequently arrested Dinu Solanki in 2013 from New Delhi and chargesheeted him in the murder case, in which he was named as the main conspirator.
Both the investigations were clubbed together and the central agency was asked to conduct the murder trial. When the trial began, witnesses started turning hostile. Of the 195 prosecution witnesses who were to depose, 105 turned hostile, including eight eyewitnesses to the shooting.
Retrial plea after witnesses turn hostile
Thereafter, Bhikabhai moved the high court seeking a retrial in the case, following which the court of Justice J B Pardiwala in 2017 ordered a fresh trial of 26 witnesses. In a sharply worded judgment, Justice Pardiwala stated, “In the present day times when the criminals have no value of human life and murders are committed at the drop of a hat, one should stop shedding any more tears for the criminals and devote some attention to the victims of the crime.”
When he sought a retrial of the witnesses, Bhikhabhai had also prayed for the court’s directions “to initiate necessary criminal and civil proceedings against all those, accused and others, who are found responsible for the large number of witnesses, individually and collectively, turning hostile during the trial of Amit Jethwa murder case”.
Justice Pardiwala too had observed in his judgment, “Not only the honest witnesses need full protection of the state, but at the same time dishonest witnesses need to be dealt with an iron hand. No leniency and indulgence should be shown to such a witness who with impunity has the audacity to utter falsehood after taking oath. Such a witness derails the trial which can result in miscarriage of justice and consequently bring miseries to victim of crime.”
Six days after the Gujarat High Court acquitted former BJP MP Dinu Solanki and six others in the 2010 Amit Jethwa murder case, the slain RTI activist’s father Bhikhabhai died at a Bhavnagar hospital on Sunday night. He was 69.
Jignesh, Bhikhabhai’s eldest son after Amit, said, “He was discouraged by the Gujarat High Court verdict and started keeping unwell from Tuesday (May 7, a day after the verdict was pronounced). On Saturday (May 11) he couldn’t move and was first taken to a treatment centre at Mahuva but they did not have the advanced facilities of MRI machines. So he was then taken to the Bhavnagar Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhavnagar city. The test results were normal and he was on drips and the doctors were positive that he will be discharged in two days or so.
“But on Sunday (May 12) at around 8.30 pm, his pulse and heart rate dropped. He was also admitted to the ICU but was ultimately pronounced dead due to a sudden cardiac arrest. He wanted his body to be donated to the Jamnagar government hospital but it was not possible. Hence we donated the body to the government hospital in Bhavnagar.”
Bhikhabhai suffered a paralytic attack in 2001 and was on medications for diabetes and high blood pressure, added Jignesh.
The last rites are being performed at Khambha village in Amreli, where he hailed from and resided in. He is survived also by his wife Nandanben, son Bhavin and daughter Payal.
Bhikhabhai was at the forefront of pursuing justice for his slain son. Mahesh Makwana, who worked with Bhikhabhai, said the latter was planning to move the Supreme Court on May 16 against the high court’s acquittal verdict. The seven accused in the case were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder by a special CBI court in Ahmedabad in 2019.
Jignesh, who works at Gandhidham, said the family would now take a call as to who would be the petitioner. “We will continue the fight. He was dealing entirely with the case. So we don’t have a lot of ideas, but being the second son, I’m ready to continue the fight.”
Murder after exposure of MLA’s illegal mining
In 2010 Amit Jethwa, through an RTI application, uncovered then BJP MP Dinu Solanki’s involvement in illegal mining within a radius of five kilometres from the boundary of the Gir sanctuary area. He initiated litigation in the high court in this regard. On July 20, 2010, Jethwa was shot dead by two people opposite the court, outside the Bar Council building, in the evening. Initially, the case was investigated by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch and two chargesheets against six accused people were filed by the police.
At the time Amit Jethwa’s father sought an investigation by an independent body such as a special investigation team or the CBI, but the plea was initially rejected. Bhikhabhai then moved the high court a second time, seeking investigation by an independent agency.
Accordingly, on September 25, 2012, the high court directed a CBI inquiry. The CBI subsequently arrested Dinu Solanki in 2013 from New Delhi and chargesheeted him in the murder case, in which he was named as the main conspirator.
Both the investigations were clubbed together and the central agency was asked to conduct the murder trial. When the trial began, witnesses started turning hostile. Of the 195 prosecution witnesses who were to depose, 105 turned hostile, including eight eyewitnesses to the shooting.
Retrial plea after witnesses turn hostile
Thereafter, Bhikabhai moved the high court seeking a retrial in the case, following which the court of Justice J B Pardiwala in 2017 ordered a fresh trial of 26 witnesses. In a sharply worded judgment, Justice Pardiwala stated, “In the present day times when the criminals have no value of human life and murders are committed at the drop of a hat, one should stop shedding any more tears for the criminals and devote some attention to the victims of the crime.”
When he sought a retrial of the witnesses, Bhikhabhai had also prayed for the court’s directions “to initiate necessary criminal and civil proceedings against all those, accused and others, who are found responsible for the large number of witnesses, individually and collectively, turning hostile during the trial of Amit Jethwa murder case”.
Justice Pardiwala too had observed in his judgment, “Not only the honest witnesses need full protection of the state, but at the same time dishonest witnesses need to be dealt with an iron hand. No leniency and indulgence should be shown to such a witness who with impunity has the audacity to utter falsehood after taking oath. Such a witness derails the trial which can result in miscarriage of justice and consequently bring miseries to victim of crime.”
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