Expedite trial of TV scribe case: Delhi HC

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Wednesday ordered expeditious trial of the 2008 murder case of TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan. Justice Mukta Gupta directed the trial court to hear the case at least twice every week.

“The trial court is directed to expedite the trial for speedy disposal of the case,” the high court said. The court passed the order on a plea by one of the accused, Baljeet Malik, seeking to expedite and conclude the trial in a fixed time frame on day-to-day basis.

The deputy commissioner of police (south) was also directed to assign the task of monitoring to additional DCP to ensure the presence of prosecution witnesses on every date of hearing. Advocate Amit Kumar, appearing for Mr Malik, submitted that the accused was in custody since 2009 and the prosecution has cited 88 witnesses of which approximately 45 to 46 have been examined till now.

He said it will take another four to five years to complete the proceedings and urged for a speedy trial. The high court was informed by the trial court that the delay in the case was primarily due to non-presence of prosecution witnesses and due to the time taken for the appointment of a special public prosecutor.

It had earlier sought a report from the trial court as to why the trial had not concluded nine and a half years after the chargesheet was filed. The high court also made it clear that no adjournment shall be given in the case unless there are some valid reasons. The case is listed for hearing before the trial court on March 8.

The high court, however, rejected the plea of 30-year-old Malik seeking direction to the authorities to compensate him with Rs 1 crore for the unreasonable and inordinate delay in investigation and trial of the case. Soumya was shot dead on September 30, 2008 while she was returning home in her car from office.