Maharashtra Govt calls for daily hearing in Khairlanji cases

The state Government has asked the Bhandara court trying the Khairlanji murders case to run the hearing on a day-to-day basis.

The state Government has asked the Bhandara court trying the Khairlanji murders case to run the hearing on a day-to-day basis.

A letter to the effect was issued by the state Law and Judiciary Ministry and was handed over to the Special Public Prosecution Ujjwal Nikam to be passed on to the court of Judge S S Das.

Nikam confirmed the issuance of letter while talking to The Indian Express.

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Unhappy with the pace of the trial, Khairlanji survivor Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange had demanded a daily hearing of the case and had threatened to go on fast from October 15 if his demand wasn’t met by then.

In the hearing that began in May, only 25 days of hearing has been held with only 13 of the 78 witnesses being examined.

“We will request the court in the next two days for daily hearing of the case,” Nikam said.

However, sources said, it would be impossible for Nikam to remain present daily for the hearing since he has a lot of other cases to attend, prominent among them being the Pramod Mahajan case in Mumbai. They said Nikam might have a rethink on the Khairlanji assignment if asked to argue the case on a day-to-day basis.

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When asked, Nikam said, “True I have other engagements too, but a way out can be found.”

The three defence lawyers, too, will have to skip their other regular cases if the Khairlanji hearing is done on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, the new hearing session began on Monday with the cross examination of Bhandara Sub-Divisional Officer Milind Bansod and Avinash Shende, the doctor who performed autopsy on the four Bhotmange victims, ruling that no rape had occurred. He was dismissed following a hue and cry over the finding.