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Detention of accused as undertrial for over 6 years violates rights: Orissa HC
The Orissa High Court made the observation while granting bail to a person accused of duping people of over ₹31 crore on Friday
Bhubaneswar:
The Orissa high court granted bail to an accused who had been in custody for over 6 years for duping people of over ₹31 crore in a ponzi scheme, stating that detention for such a long period violates the right to a speedy trial.
“True it is that what extent of time would be considered as an infringement of right to speedy trial has not been defined in any statute, but by any standard, the detention of the petitioner in custody for around more than 6 and half years as has been found in this case is considered to be infringement of right to speedy trial as guaranteed to the petitioner under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” a single bench of justice Gourishankar Satapathy said in a February 18 order.
Dilip Ranjan Nath, who ran Sunmarg Suraha Micro Finance in West Bengal and Odisha, was accused of operating an illegal money circulation business through various companies. He also allegedly lured depositors to invest money with the promise of high returns, thereby cheating the gullible depositors.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charged Nath under the Indian Penal Code and the Prize Chits & Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, for duping ₹31.13 crore from 485 branches of gullible depositors.
Nath was arrested in August 2018.
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The high court, which perused the status report of the trial court, found only 11 witnesses have been examined and 166 more witnesses are yet to be examined thus concluding that the entire trial would take ‘considerable period of time’.
The court said that since the accused has been incarcerated due to the action taken by the CBI, the delay in examining the prosecution witnesses must be attributed to the CBI.
The court said that when the accused has been incarcerated due to the action taken by the CBI, it has to take the blame for considerable delay in examination of the prosecution witnesses.
“…no one will appreciate by confining a person accused of offence without assuring him to speedy trial which is his fundamental right and a person cannot be kept confined in jail custody for indefinite period on the expectation that one or other day the trial would be concluded which is not the objective of right to life and liberty as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” it said.
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Taking into account the period of custody, lack of information regarding criminal antecedents of the petitioner and the prospective period for conclusion of trial, the Court deemed it apposite to grant bail to the petitioner on furnishing bail bonds of Rs.5 lakh with two solvent sureties each for the like amount along with other conditions.
The HC held that though it is true that what extent of time would be considered as an infringement of right to speedy trial has not been defined in any statute, but detention for more than six and a half years can be considered to be infringement of right to speedy trial under Article 21.
