"Adjourned 50 times": Madras High Court orders special court to complete trial in 2013 murder of BJP leader Auditor Ramesh

The Madras High Court recently directed the special court in Poonamallee district in Tamil Nadu to complete within two months, the trial in the 2013 murder case of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s then state general secretary V Ramesh, who was popularly known as Auditor Ramesh [V Kamala v The State]. .Justice RN Manjula of the Madras High Court noted that the trial had been adjourned at least 50 times and, therefore, directed the special court to complete it as expeditiously as possible, and within a maximum period of two months The High Court also said that the special court must ensure that hearings are held on a day-to-day basis if necessary and the matter should not be adjourned for more than "two to three days.""The Judge, Sessions Court for Exclusive Trial of Bomb blast / NIA cases, Poonamallee is directed to dispose of the case in C.C. No.06/2014 pending on his file, as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of two months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order by posting the case on day-to-day basis and if needed, adjourning the case not beyond two or three days," the order passed on December 22 last year said.The Court was hearing a petition filed by the 91-year-old mother of the deceased seeking directions to the special court to speed up the trial..Ramesh was hacked to death inside the compound of his residence in Salem on the night of July 20, 2013.As per the police, Ramesh had returned home at around 10 pm after meeting some party workers. The assailants, who were hiding inside the compound of his house, then attacked him. Ramesh received severe injuries on his neck and head and succumbed on the spot, the police had said..The petitioner, V Kamala, told the Court that the key witnesses in the case were senior citizens, some of them were over 80 years old, and therefore, it was imperative that they be examined as expeditiously as possible. The Court noted that while the incident had occurred in 2013, a chargesheet was filed only in 2014 and that the trial in the case had "astonishingly" been adjourned at least 50 times.It said that the case records revealed that such delay in trial showed much "insensitivity" on part of the local court. "On perusal of the records, it is seen that charges have been framed as early as in the year 2014. Thereafter the matter was kept pending for service for a few hearings. It is astonishing to note that the matter is being adjourned for at least more than fifty hearings for counselling. It is not known what kind of counselling is given and for whom. Even if the counselling is presumed to have been given to the victim, that cannot be a bar for the conduction of the case. The concern of the petitioner is reasonable. Since the key witnesses are senior citizens and they are aged 80 years and the trial Court should act in a responsible manner to examine the senior citizen witnesses as expeditiously as possible," the High Court said.It, therefore, directed expeditious trial in the matter..Advocate R Thiyagarajan appeared for the petitioner. Government Advocate A Gopinath appeared for the respondent State. .[Read Judgement]