A special court on Tuesday rejected a prosecution petition for de novo deposition (Fresh depositions in the case) by 21 witnesses, who had turned hostile in a kidnapping and suspected murder case against Rashtriya Janata Dal MP from Siwan Mohammed Shahabuddin.
Special Judge Gyaneshwar Srivastava turned down the prayer of the prosecution on the ground that it would amount to judicial over activism.
Avadh Chaudhary and Champa Devi, the parents of Munna Chaudhary, a CPI-ML supporter, who was kidnapped and suspected to have been killed by Shahabuddin and his henchmen on January 6, 2001, had petitioned the court in April for permission to depose afresh in the case.
Though the two had in their statement recorded in September 2003 alleged that the MP and his men had kidnapped their son and later killed him, they had during their deposition before sub-judge A P Srivastava in 2004 retracted it following which the court had declared them hostile.
The prosecution had moved the court for de novo deposition following the filing of the petition by the parents of Munna Chaudhary, stating that all of them appeared to have turned hostile under duress.
Munna Chaudhary's body could never be found. An FIR was registered on January 13, seven days after his disappearance.
The court had concluded the hearing on prosecution's prayer on June six this year.
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