Anguished over non-appearance of key witness Bharti Yadav in the Nitish Katara murder case despite repeated trial court orders, the Supreme Court on Friday warned her accused brothers not to take the judicial system for a ride.
"If we are convinced that this is the way judicial system was being taken for a ride, we will take note of it. We can't shut our eyes to the ground realities," a Bench of Justice KG Balakrishnan and Justice DK Jain said.
The Bench was hearing petitions filed by the Delhi Police and the victim's mother Nilam Katara against October 2005 order of the Delhi High Court granting bail to accused Vishal. His cousin Vikas, a co-accused, is still in jail.
The prosecution alleged that Bharti's father DP Yadav and the accused were not letting her come to New Delhi and to depose in the case but they denied the charge.
When Vishal's counsel asserted that the accused had not violated any bail conditions since October last year, the Bench said it would lay down parameters for cancellation of bail too.
The Bench was not convinced with DP Yadav's submission before the trial court that he did not know the address of his daughter Bharti, who is in London for about three years.
{{/usCountry}}The Bench was not convinced with DP Yadav's submission before the trial court that he did not know the address of his daughter Bharti, who is in London for about three years.
{{/usCountry}}"What is the difficulty... It is very strange that the father does not know where the daughter is," it observed.
On the argument of Vishal's counsel that the accused did not have any control over the witness (Bharti), the Bench said it would take the totality of circumstances into consideration to decide the issue.