NEW DELHI: A week after criticising long delay in trial of a Popular Front of India (PFI) activist facing UAPA charges by asserting that “lifespan of a criminal trial cannot be that of a turtle”, Supreme Court on Wednesday again slammed the Karnataka govt for submitting a prosecution plan “as absurd as a fairytale”.Mindful of the trend of UAPA trials lingering indefinitely, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said no special court, set up to conduct trial of UAPA cases, should be saddled with more than 12-15 cases. The directive came as the bench found that the prosecution was yet to start producing its witnesses despite having cited 700 of them. The accused, a functionary of the outlawed hardline Islamist group PFI, has been in jail for four years. The SC on Aug 5 asked the state govt to submit a prosecution plan specifying how many protected witnesses were to be examined and within what timeframe.Karnataka’s counsel Rooh-e-Hina Dua said the state intended to examine three protected witnesses and 50 other witnesses against the petitioner Shahid Khan and said it could take a year for the prosecution to complete its evidence and examination of witnesses.The bench said, “It shows the lackadaisical approach of the state. The prosecution does not give a clear picture of the trial process when the accused is languishing in jail for nearly four years without a trial.”For the petitioner, who was arrested on Sept 22, 2022, for allegedly radicalising youth and being involved in violent activities, senior advocate Aditya Sondhi said the HC rejected his bail plea without considering the right to liberty and right to expeditious trial.
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The bench said the charges against the petitioner were serious and directed the prosecution to complete examination of the three protected witnesses in three months. It asked the prosecution, the petitioner and the co-accused, who are on bail, not to repeatedly file applications.The petitioner is accused of helping raise funds for PFI between 2011 and 2019 and helping teams of the banned outfit which had planned attacks in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala against CAA and NRC, and judgement relating to hijab and Babri demolition.
