Soumya Vishwanathan murder: Victim’s mother supports speedy trial plea by accused

Murdered journalist Soumya Vishwanathan’s mother Madhvi said the petition by the accused Baljeet Singh Malik may “inadvertently end up benefiting everyone”.

Madhvi Vishwanathan came out in support of a petition filed by her daughter’s alleged killer, Baljeet Singh Malik, seeking a “speedy trial” in the case, but found it “laughable” that he sought a compensation of ₹1 crore for the prolonged delay in the trial.

Murdered journalist Soumya Vishwanathan’s (in photo) mother says she is supportive of the petition by the accused in the sense that there has been a terrible delay in this case.(HT File)

Madhvi said the petition may “inadvertently end up benefiting everyone” as it could “help in fastening the procedure and reaching closure”.

“It is laughable that Malik sought monetary compensation. It won’t make any difference to him because he is already serving a life sentence after being convicted of killing Jigisha (another woman murdered six months before Soumya),” Madhvi said.

She said that Malik’s petition “won’t stand in court”. “But I am supportive of Malik’s petition in the sense that there has been a terrible delay in this case. I have been patiently following the lengthy legal process, but the delay cannot be ignored,” she said.

She said while Malik had a court to approach for compensation, she didn’t even have such a choice. “We don’t want money, but who compensates us? We are hoping for closure after my daughter’s killers are punished. A delay in the judgment helps no one,” she said.

Madhvi said she was afraid of how Jigisha’s mother, Sabita Ghosh, would react to the development. She wasn’t able to reach her over phone. The two mothers have been each other’s support all these years. HT’s efforts to contact Sabita, too, failed.

Arghya Sengupta, the research director of Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, saw the compensation petition as a “proxy for a general frustration that litigants face due to prolonged delays in trials”.

Sengupta said an accused person is entitled to a speedy trial, adding that he was unaware of the development in Soumya’s murder case and said he was speaking in general about prolonged delays in the criminal justice system.

The research director said the compensation sought by Malik was “unusual”. “The delays in judgments are not due to a single factor or due to shortcomings of an individual organisation,” Sengupta said.

According to data by PRS legislative Research, which provides research support to Members of Parliament, among its other works, there is an 86% pendency of cases in the country’s subordinate courts, 13.85% pendency before the high courts and a 0.2% of pendency in the Supreme Court.

The data, compiled until April last year, also shows that 23% of cases in high courts were pending for over 10 years. The corresponding figure for subordinate courts stood at 8%.

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