Shraddha Walkar Case: Aftab Poonawal's Plea For Trial Only Twice A Month Rejected

 Saket District Court has recently rejected Shraddha Walkar's murder case and accused Aftab Amin Poonawala's plea seeking trial to be held only twice every month to give suitable time to his counsel to prepare his defence. The court said that the accused was trying to deliberately delay the trial.

Special Fast Track Court Judge Manish Khurana Kakkar dismissed the plea of the accused, Poonawala.

"It appears that since substantial witnesses have been examined and material witnesses are yet to be examined after filing the supplementary challan along with the witnesses cited in the main charge sheet, the accused is trying to deliberately delay the trial," the Special Court said in an order of July 6.

In fact, learned defence counsel had failed to appear on dates that were fixed as per his convenience for cross-examination of the witnesses, and several witnesses are yet to be cross examined by the accused, it added.

It also said that only 134 out of 212 prosecution witnesses have been examined since June 2023. Therefore, consecutive dates are required to conclude the trial expeditiously.

There is an application which was moved by Vikas Walkar, father of Shraddha Walkar, seeking release of her bones so that her last rites may be performed.

"Moreover, the right of the accused to a fair trial cannot be allowed to completely trump the right of the victim to a dignified cremation as well as the right of the surviving heir of the deceased to cremate the body of the deceased with dignity and respect," the court observed.

The court noted that, admittedly, the bones of the deceased have not been released to the father of the deceased/victim, who has been appearing diligently physically or through virtual mode. He has specifically prayed that the bones of his only daughter be released to him expeditiously as soon as possible since he has to cremate her body parts.

"Infact, the said right cannot be allowed to be completely thwarted by slackening the pace of trial at the whims and fancy of the accused, who has been adequately accommodated on each date of hearing so as to give him ample opportunity to prepare his defence as well as to cross-examine the witnesses," the court emphasised.

The court said that the father of the deceased has also filed an application for release of the bones and for expeditiously exhibiting them.

In reply to the application filed, the accused stated that he has no objection to release of the bones to the father of deceased, as the alleged bones and body parts have already been exhibited.

"However, the said case property cannot be allowed to be released at this stage since many police witnesses involved in the alleged recovery of bones of deceased Shraddha Vikas Walker are yet to be examined and as per the submissions of the prosecution, the said case property is required for the identification and exhibition of the said bones by the police witnesses.

Therefore, the application of the father of the deceased cannot be allowed to that extent," the court said in the order.

The court held, "However, keeping in view the fact that the father of the victim, Vikas Walker, has a right to cremate the bones of his deceased daughter, Shraddha Vikas Walker, the matter shall be taken up expeditiously on consecutive dates of hearing each month in order to conclude the prosecution evidence, after which at least some part of the bones may be released to him for cremation, at the appropriate stage of proceedings."

Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad did not object to expeditious trial in the present matter. In fact, it was reinforced that consecutive dates be given for completion of examination of prosecution witnesses, as the total number of prosecution witnesses in the main charge-sheet is around 182 witnesses, while the supplementary challan has about 30 witnesses, i.e. more than 212 witnesses in total, the court noted.

He vehemently argued that the defence counsel had previously taken dates as per his convenience for cross-examination of witnesses, however, he failed to appear on the said dates with the intent to delay the trial.

Accused in application stated that the matter is at the stage of Prosecution. Evidence shows that since October 2023, 6-7 block dates per month have been fixed.

It was further stated that more than 125 witnesses have already been examined in the present matter, and now crucial witnesses, i.e., investigating officers, public witnesses, and FSL witnesses, remain to be examined; therefore, main counsel needs to be present for their examination in chief as well.

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