M A I N   N E W S

Expedite Bibi case, SC tells HC
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, April 28
The Supreme Court today directed the Punjab and Haryana High Court to set up a special bench to hear the petition of Kamaljit Singh in the Bibi Jagir Kaur case pertaining to alleged conspiracy to murder her own daughter.

Kamaljit Singh, who had claimed to have married Bibi Jagir Kaur’s daughter secretly, in his petition before the High Court had sought cancellation of her bail. The CBI had named her as an accused in the chargesheet, filed in January 2001.

Kamaljit Singh had moved a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking speedy disposal of his petition by the High Court as well as speedy trial against Bibi Jagir Kaur, which according to his counsel Nidhesh Gupta was going on at a snail’s pace.

Mr Gupta told the bench of Mr Justice Ashok Bhan and Mr Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta that during the past six years, only 28 witnesses out of 133 were examined by the trial court. “Needless to state that, at the present pace, it would take at least another 10 to 15 years to conclude the trial,” he argued.

Expressing serious concern over the slow pace of the trial, the apex court asked the acting Chief Justice of the High Court to constitute a special bench to dispose of Kamaljit Singh’s petition so that it could not pose any obstacle in smooth conduct of the trial proceedings.

The Court, however, disposed of the petition of Kamaljit Singh with this order even as his counsel said that Bibi Jagir Kaur had only got anticipatory bail and continued to be out of custody, the Supreme Court guidelines provided that in a criminal case of this nature, the accused has to obtain regular bail.

He also said that the High Court had not been able to decide his application for the past three years.

Kamaljit Singh had cited Bibi Jagir Kaur’s tremendous political influence as the main ground for cancelling the bail, citing apex court’s guidelines of 2004 that when a person was in a capacity to tamper with the evidence and influence the witnesses, the bail granted could be terminated.