Today, On 22nd July, In the Shraddha Walkar murder case, the court has denied Aftab Poonawala’s request for bi-monthly trials. Poonawala is accused of the brutal murder of Shraddha Walkar, which has drawn significant public attention.
New Delhi: A court in Delhi rejected Aaftab Amin Poonawala‘s request to limit the trial in the Shraddha Walkar murder case to just twice a month, citing that the plea seemed to be an attempt to delay the proceedings.
Poonawala, the sole accused in the case, sought additional time for his counsel to prepare his defence. The court also denied the immediate release of Walkar’s bones for cremation, stating they were still needed for identification by police witnesses.
Shraddha Walkar, who was in a live-in relationship with Poonawala, allegedly strangled by him on May 18, 2022. According to the 6,629-page chargesheet filed by Delhi Police, Poonawala dismembered her body, stored it in a fridge, and disposed of the pieces across various locations in the city to evade detection. The remains later discovered by the authorities.
In an order issued earlier this month, Additional Sessions Judge Manisha Khurana Kakkar noted that 134 out of 212 prosecution witnesses had already been examined, emphasizing the need for consecutive hearings to accommodate several witnesses from out of town.
She stated,
“The defendant’s request to schedule only two hearing dates per month for the examination of prosecution witnesses seems to be an attempt to prolong and delay the trial, “Given the large number of prosecution witnesses, significant time is needed to record the lengthy testimonies, especially those of the police witnesses.”
The judge observed that Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad noted the testimony of police witness Constable Deepak took seven hearing dates.
She added,
“Limiting hearings to only two dates per month would severely prejudice and extend the trial,”
Prasad objected to the defendant’s request, arguing that it would considerably delay the trial.
The court remarked,
“It seems that since many witnesses have been examined and key witnesses remain to be examined following the filing of the supplementary challan and those listed in the main chargesheet, the defendant is attempting to deliberately delay the trial.”
In response to the plea filed by Vikas Walkar, the victim’s father, for the expedited release of his daughter’s seized bones for last rites, the court stated,
“The accused’s right to a fair trial should not completely trump the right of the victim to a dignified cremation and the right of her father to conduct the cremation with dignity and respect.”
The court emphasized,
“These rights should not be completely thwarted by slackening the pace of trial at the whims and fancy of the accused, who had been adequately accommodated on each date of hearing to give him ample opportunity to prepare his defence as well as to cross-examine the witnesses.”
However, the court noted that the remains could not be released immediately since many police witnesses involved in the “alleged recovery of bones” still needed to be examined. The skeletal remains were also necessary for their “identification and exhibition” by the police witnesses.
The court said,
“However, keeping in view the fact that the father of the victim has a right to cremate the bones of his deceased daughter, the matter shall be taken up expeditiously on consecutive dates of hearing each month in order to conclude the prosecution evidence, after which at least some part of the bones may be released to him for cremation, at an appropriate stage of proceedings,”
The accused, Poonawala, faces charges under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code. In May this year, a supplementary chargesheet of approximately 3,000 pages, mainly comprising digital and forensic evidence, filed.