An FIR was filed by the Kalyan police, alleging that Prasad had strangulated her one-year-old daughter Aarti on September 26, 2018.
TAKING NOTE of the ‘lethargical pace’ of a trial against a woman who is behind bars since 2018 on allegations of strangling her one-year-old daughter, the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to her. The court said that an accused has a right for an expeditious trial and while the allegations are serious, only one witness has been examined in the case so far, six years later.
Pooja Prasad had applied for bail before the court after the Bombay High Court denied her bail in July 2024. The high court had then directed the trial court in Kalyan to complete the trial within nine months but only one of the 24 witnesses has been examined since.
“Undoubtedly, allegations in the FIR are serious but the lackadaisical approach of the state is clearly discernible as it took 5 years for the state to arrange for framing of the charges. Moreover, 23 more witnesses are to be examined and taking note of the lethargical pace at which the single witness is examined in the course of 6 months, the trial as can be inferred is likely to be prolonged,” the bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice S V N Bhatti said. The court also said that the high court’s direction to the trial court to expedite the trial, still holds.
Français
