The Supreme Court (SC) has issued a notice in a kidnapping case from Varanasi, UP, that has been lingering in a local court for the last 15 years. It’s a classic instance of how the high and mighty can influence cases against them.
The main accused is the sitting BJP MlA Ravindra Jaiswal of Varanasi (North), which happens to fall in the Parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Jaiswal has several criminal cases pending against him but in this one, he is an accused along with three policemen in the kidnapping of one Ashraf on March 27, 2000. Fifteen years have gone by and Ashraf is still untracable.
The victim’s brother Tazammul Hussain, in his petition to transfer the trial to Delhi, told the apex court that Ashraf was one of the accused in the murder of Jaiswal’s brother. After Ashraf got released from jail, he went into hiding in Ajmer. But Jaiswal got a fresh complaint lodged against him. The police team that accompanied Jaiswal arrested him, Hussain maintained. Police claimed he escaped from their custody when brought to Varanasi but the family suspected he was murdered on the same day of his arrest.
left all alone to win justice for his brother, Hussain through his lawyer Divyesh Pratap Singh pointed out instances to highlight the inordinate delay caused in the trial so far. The charge sheet took six long years to file. After trial began in 2006, Hussain made 90 appearances over the past four years to depose as a witness but his cross-examination is yet to be completed by the lawyer appearing for the accused MlA. At this pace, the petition argued the witness will be harassed to depose for years together.
The Bench of Justices TS Thakur and R Banumathi also took note of a report furnished by the trial court suggesting that on the 171 days when the case came up for hearing, application for adjournment was moved 50 times by the prosecution or the prosecution witnesses.
On 24 occasions, the accused or their lawyers adjourned the case and on 26 dates, the Presiding Officer was not present to take up the case.
Two material witnesses in the case have turned hostile and concerned by these facts, the SC sought responses from UP Government and the accused. Before the next date of hearing, the apex Bench has sought another report from the trial judge hearing the case to suggest steps taken to expedite the trial.