57-yr-old case disposed after Aurangabad court finds all accused died long ago

The case had been pending due to non-appearance of the accused persons for 46 years and they were declared as absconders by police all these years

A court in Bihar’s Aurangabad on Friday disposed of a 57-year-old case of fraud after finding that all the accused persons in the case had died long ago.

In the light of long pendency of the case and failure of police in producing the accused, the court deputed a Para Legal Volunteer (PLV) who found that all the four accused persons had died long ago. (Representative Image)

The case had been pending due to non-appearance of the accused persons for 46 years and they were declared as absconders by police all these years, Pranaw Shankar, secretary, District Legal Service Authority (DLSA) said, adding that DLSA’s interference helped the court to find the truth and put an end to the everlasting trial.

As per court records, the case, related to a fraud at Simari village, was registered at Kutumba police station on November 23, 1966.

After passing through various courts for 45 years and pending for the appearance of the accused, the trial in the case came in the court of first-class judicial magistrate (JM) Neha Dayal.

In the light of long pendency of the case and failure of police in producing the accused, the court requested the DLSA to find the accused persons and inform the court about their status.

Additional district and sessions judge and DLSA secretary Pranaw Shankar deputed a Para Legal Volunteer (PLV) who found that all the four accused persons had died long ago.

After their families expressed ignorance about the case and expressed inability in depositing the death certificates as they had no date of deaths, the PLV got their death certificates from local mukhiya and submitted the same in the court and the case was disposed of.

The DLSA secretary said that district and sessions judge (DJ) Rajneesh Kumar Shrivastav has directed all courts in the district to get updated information through the DLSA in the old cases in which witnesses and accused persons were not appearing in the court.