Mumbai: Bombay High Court has slammed Rabiya Khan, mother of late actress Jiah Khan, for filing repeated proceedings, saying she is procrastinating the trial that is going on.

On June 3, 2013, Rabiya had found Jiah hanging from the ceiling fan in her bedroom. Rabiya insisted Jiah was murdered. Actor Sooraj Pancholi is being tried for abetment to Jiah’s suicide. Rabiya (62) moved HC after the CBI court rejected her plea for further probe by an SIT into her daughter’s death. On September 12 Justices Ajay Gadkari and Milind Jadhav dismissed her appeal.

“The entire approach of the petitioner appears to be to procure an order from this court, without facing trial, that the death of the victim was homicidal and not suicidal. This kind of approach appears to circumvent the due process of law,” the judges said in the reasoned order.

Rabiya wanted BlackBerry phones of Jiah and Sooraj to be sent to the FBI to recover messages that had been deleted.

“We also fail to understand as to how this (High) Court gets jurisdiction for directing the FBI in the United States which is one of the reliefs sought by the petitioner in the present petition,” they added.

They had “repeatedly” asked Khan’s advocate Shekhar Jagtap “but he failed to address us on this aspect.”

The judges pointed out that Rabiya’s repeated insistence “is a clear indication of procrastinating the trial, especially when her substantive rights have not been foreclosed.”

The judges refused to countenance “a legal review report” by the UK-based law firm SCARMANS that alleged discrepancies/lacunae in CBI’s investigation. “We are aghast and shocked to read the said report....this report attempts to deliver a verdict even before the trial is over,’’ they said, that it contains adverse comments on high court orders/judgment.

“Rule of law is prevalent in our country and we do not have the slightest doubt that the trial court shall deliver its verdict without fear or favour whilst adhering to the due process of law,’’ the judges added. The judges also mentioned that investigation has shown Jiah’s death was “suicide and not homicidal.”

“Prima facie it does appear that a totally impartial, fair and transparent investigation is made by the CBI in a thorough manner,” they noted.

The judges were inclined to saddle Rabiya with exemplary costs but refrained from doing so.