"Justice Hurried Is Justice Buried": High Court On RG Kar Corruption Case

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday said that reasonable time needs to be given to the accused Sandip Ghosh, former principal of R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, before charges are framed in a case of financial irregularities there during his tenure.

Sandip Ghosh was the principal of the medical college and hospital when a medic was raped and murdered inside its seminar room on August 9 last year, triggering outrage across the country.

Taking up an appeal by Ghosh seeking postponement of framing of charges in the case, the court said that while the trial needs to be fast-tracked, due process of law must also be followed.

Sandip Ghosh moved an appeal before the division bench challenging a single bench order that refused to postpone framing of charges in the case of financial irregularities when he was the principal.

He prayed for a direction to the special CBI court at Alipore here to postpone framing of charges against him, an accused in the case. He was arrested by the CBI in connection with the case and is at present in judicial remand.

Maintaining that every accused has a right to go through the due process of law, the division bench, also comprising Justice Subhendu Samanta, said that the right of the accused to prepare a defence also needs to be examined.

Sandip Ghosh's lawyer stated before the division bench that the CBI supplied documents to it running into thousands of pages on February one and that the date for framing of charges in the case was fixed before the special court on February 4, giving hardly four days to go through the voluminous documents related to the case.

Asking whether seeking time to go through the papers is very unjust, Justice Bagchi, however, categorically told Sandip Ghosh's counsel that he does not have the privilege of dilating proceedings before the trial court.

The division bench proposed that the accused may get a week's time to go through the documents for filing a discharge petition, if he so wishes.

The bench said that it will monitor the proceedings before the special CBI court at Alipore, so that the discharge petitions are heard within seven days of being taken up by it.

The bench said that it would like the counsels appearing for the accused persons in the case to discuss with the additional solicitor general representing the CBI for working out a reasonable and just time frame for the constitution of charges in the case.

The bench proposed that the matter be taken up for constitution of charges seven days hence and in the event any discharge petition is filed, those will be heard on that day before the special court and the matter will be heard and disposed of within seven days thereof.

The bench said that charges will be framed before the special court in the event the discharge petitions are dismissed.

Framing of charges in criminal proceedings is a stage where a court formally accuses a person of committing a particular offence based on prima facie evidence and allegations presented by the prosecution.

Of the five accused in the case, three have filed discharge petitions. Sandip Ghosh is not one of them.

The division bench said that it will post the matter for hearing before it three weeks hence and the CBI will submit a report on the progress on such date.

Justice Bagchi said that if there is any delay in the proceedings before the trial court, the lawyers will be at liberty to mention that before this division bench.

"We do not want a situation where justice hurried is justice buried, but at the same time, we will keep the entire proceeding (before the special court) under our strict supervision," the division bench said.

The bench said that it proposes to commence the trial as quickly as possible and after the charges are framed, the onus will be on CBI to give a trial schedule so that prosecution evidence is concluded within a reasonable time.

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