Aniruddha Thakur v. The State Of West Bengal
Calcutta High Court In the Circuit Bench at Jalpaiguri 11.08.2022 Court No.3 Item 25 Sk & Ali CRR 48 of 2022 Aniruddha Thakur Vs.
The State of West Bengal Mr. Ashok Kr. Sengupta Mr. Sudip Guha ......for the petitioner.
Mr. Aditi Shankar Chakraborty, Ld. APP Mr. Arun Kr. Sarkar ...for the State.
Mr. Sudip Guha, learned advocate appears on behalf of the petitioner.
Special Superintendent of Police, CID, West Bengal (Headquarters at Siliguri) and Officer-in-Charge, Jaigaon Police Station, is present in court. They file their respective reports in compliance to order dated 08.08.2022. The aforesaid reports are taken on record.
Mr. Aditi Shankar Chakraborty, learned Additional Public Prosecutor submits that the factum of misplacement of keys came to the knowledge of the authorities on 20.07.2022. However prior to the said date the prosecutor on 14.07.2022 has filed an application before the learned trial court for opening the lock of the box containing the Alamat for the sake of further proceeding and examination of witnesses in trial. The aforesaid aspect has resulted in delay in trial. However he assures that all possible steps would be taken for facilitating trial.
Perused the aforesaid reports filed by the authorities concerned.
It appears from the aforesaid reports that the keys of the box containing the seized Alamat have been misplaced. On 15.07.2022 the learned trial court passed order asking the District Magistrate, Alipurduar to direct treasury officer, Alipurduar to hand over the keys in connection with the case to the authorized officer of DDI, CID, Jalpaiguri on proper verification and acknowledgement. Thus the trial court in seisin of the matter has already taken steps in this regard. The present application has been preferred by the petitioner for expeditious trial.
Mr. Sudip Guha, learned advocate for the petitioner submits that charge has been framed on 28.08.2019 and thereafter only one witness has been examined in spite of repeated directions by the Hon'ble High Court as well as the Hon'ble Supreme Court.
It appears that in CRM 290 of 2019 by order dated 18.06.2019, Hon'ble High Court while considering the bail application of the petitioner under Section 439 of the Cr.PC directed for expeditious trial. Further the Ho'ble High Court in CRR 138 of 2019 by order dated 24.01.2020 also directed for expeditious trial. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) 3271 of 2020 dated 30.07.2020 also directed the trial court to expedite the trial and complete the same preferably within a period of one year from date of receipt of
the copy of the order. However, it is informed that only one witness has been examined till date.
In view of the aforesaid facts and bearing in mind the earlier directions given by Hon'ble Courts, the Officer-inCharge, Jaigaon Police Station, is directed to depute one Officer, who will remain present before the trial court on scheduled dates fixed for taking evidence and ensure attendance of the witnesses before the trial court. Further Inspector, DDI, CID, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal shall also remain present before the trial court on such dates of examination of witnesses for ensuring attendance of witnesses. The trial court is requested to expedite the trial and complete the same in accordance with law preferably within a period of one year from date of communication of this order without granting any unnecessary adjournments to either of the parties.
Let the copy of this order be sent to the trial court for information and taking necessary action.
The appearance of the Special Superintendent of Police CID, West Bengal (Headquarters at Siliguri) and Officer-inCharge, Jaigaon Police Station, is noted and dispensed with. With the aforesaid observations, the revisional application is disposed of.
All connected applications, if any, stand disposed of. Interim orders, if any stand disposed of.
Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied expeditiously after complying with all necessary legal formalities.
(Bivas Pattanayak, J.)