A special court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to expedite the trial of Sheena Bora murder case. The order came on a plea by prime accused Indrani Mukerjea.
As per the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court’s order, the trial will now be held on two days every alternate week.
Indrani Mukherjee says her trial hasn't made much progress
Indrani had pleaded for speedy trial or conduct it at least on a day-to-day or weekly basis. She had submitted that the case is over seven years old and she was in jail for a substantial period of over six years as an undertrial, before she secured bail from the apex court last year.
She pointed out that the CBI has submitted before the court that it would be examining another 92 witnesses and only 71 have been examined till date. She said that since several months the trial has not made much progress. She cited her fundamental right for a speedy trial while urging that the trial be expedited.
Central agency blames defence
The central agency in its response filed before the court on this plea, stated that it has been expeditiously conducting the matter, summoning witnesses and examining them. It blamed the defence for various pleas filed it from time to time for the delay as well as the “deliberate failure” in completing the cross-examination of witnesses in a timely manner. Finally, the agency agreed to expedite it during the hearing on the plea.
Special CBI Judge SP Naik - Nimbalkar said in the order that the sole contention of the accused is to expedite the trial. The court also considered the CBI’s submission that it is willing to expedite it, while passing the order to expedite the matter.
