High Court grants interim bail to man held for over 11 years
KOLKATA: On grounds of inordinate and unexplained delay in the progress of trial, Calcutta High Court has granted interim bail to a man who has been behind the bars for over 11 years in a case where he was accused of murdering his two daughters and dumping them on the roadside.
The Division Bench of Justice Arijit Banerjee and Justice Apurba Sinha Ray heard the bail application by the petitioner Istiaque Ahamad who was arrested in 2013.
The facts of the case revealed that on January 25, 2012, a taxi driver saw two men coming out of another taxi and dumping a white bag into a KMC vat near Dhakuria Bridge. When he was passing by, he got a foul stench from the bag.
Upon peeping inside, he allegedly saw the head of a dead body. Later, police recovered the body of a 15–20-year-old girl from the bag. Based on the taxi driver’s statement, a case was started at Lake PS. It was then transferred to the Detective Department, Kolkata Police and the petitioner was arrested on February 11, 2013.
Meanwhile, another case was registered against the petitioner on the basis of a complaint letter by one SK Munna who alleged he too found a bag with a minor girl’s dead-body at Park Circus Railway platform on January 24, 2012. The CJM, Alipore had passed an order clubbing both the cases. The prosecution had alleged both the deceased were daughters of the second wife of the petitioner. The chargesheet was submitted on May 6, 2013 and the case was transferred to AD & SJC, fast track court-II.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the trial has not been completed despite 11 years and two months have passed since the arrest.
Out of total 35 witnesses, evidence of only 28 were completed, indicating zero possibility of trial being completed in near future.
The court said: “The petitioner is in custody for more than 11 years and 7 months. Given the conduct of the prosecution, we are not sure when the trial will actually conclude. Purely on the ground of inordinate and unexplained delay in progress of trial, we enlarge the petitioner on interim bail”.
The court granted interim bail to the petitioner, directing that he shall appear before the trial court on every hearing date until further orders and shall not intimidate the witnesses or tamper with evidence in any manner whatsoever.
He was also asked not to leave the jurisdiction of the Lake PS. “The order of interim bail shall continue till the end of November 2024 or until further order whichever is earlier”.
