Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Designated court told to expedite murder trial

Special Correspondent

Petition seeking transfer of the case dismissed

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the designated court for Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (TADA) cases in Tirunelveli to conduct the murder trial of Hindu Munnani leader P. Rajagopalan on a day-to-day basis.

Justice M.E.N. Patrudu gave the direction, after dismissing a writ petition filed by one of the six accused, seeking transfer of the case from the designated court toa regular sessions court for further proceedings.

Pointing out that the accused were languishing in jail for over nine years, the Judge directed the designated court to complete the trial expeditiously.

He said the trial was in final stages, and added that the Government had no power to order transfer of a case from one court to another.

Even if a petition under Section 321 of the Code of Criminal Procedure were to be preferred by the prosecution to withdraw the case, the court was entitled to apply its mind and pass appropriate orders, he said.

Rajagopalan was hacked to death in Madurai in October 1994, and the accused were arrested in 1997. Barring Seeni Mohammed, the other accused are in jail.

Right to appeal

The present petition said the TADA was repealed in 1995 and that the change of law and order situation warranted trial by a regular sessions court.

He submitted that trial by the designated TADA court would deprive him of his right to file appeal in the High Court.

While an order of a regular sessions court could be challenged in the High Court, appeals against a designated TADA court would lie only in the Supreme Court.

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