The Delhi high court on Friday declined to issue directions prescribing a fixed timeline for the completion of the trial in the Shraddha Walkar murder case, observing that the same was not warranted as the proceedings were being conducted on a day-to-day basis.
Event Context
“No further direction is required to pass at this stage, since trial is happening on a day-to-day basis,” a bench of justice Madhu Jain said in her order.
The court passed the order in a petition filed by Walkar’s brother seeking a direction to the trial court to conclude the proceedings within a fixed timeframe.
In his plea, Walkar’s brother submitted that despite the arrest of the accused, Aftab Amin Poonawala, in November 2022 and the completion of a comprehensive investigation backed by medical, digital and forensic evidence, the trial had progressed at a sluggish pace.
The prosecution’s case has relied on both circumstantial and corroborative evidence, such as the recovery of bones, a bunch of hair, the jaw of the deceased, apart from blood traces around the Chattarpur house and testimonies of witnesses who corroborated the sequence of events leading to the murder.
Player Focus
The development came after Delhi Police’s lawyer Amit Prasad submitted that the trial was being conducted on a day-to-day basis, except on Saturdays and Sundays, and that the trial court was making every effort to conclude the proceedings at the earliest.
He informed the court that the prosecution had cited 222 witnesses. Of these, the testimony of 157 witnesses had already been completed. He further submitted that the examination of six witnesses and cross-examination of 14 witnesses remained pending, while 15 witnesses had already been dropped and another 23 were likely to be dropped by the prosecution.
On May 18, 2022, Aftab Amin Poonawala, 28, allegedly strangled his live-in partner Shraddha in a fit of rage over an argument and purportedly chopped her body into pieces. Police claimed Poonawala stored the body parts in the fridge of his house in Chattarpur Pahari and purportedly disposed of them at a nearby forest over the span of several days.
Police filed a charge sheet in January 2023, charging Poonawala under the penal sections of murder, abduction and destruction of evidence, claiming that he killed and dismembered Walkar’s body using a knife, scissors and saw. The charge sheet stated that Poonawala was enraged that Walkar was talking to someone she had met through a dating app.
In May 2023, a Delhi court framed charges against Poonawala, holding that the prosecution had placed sufficient material on record against him. After Poonawala pleaded not guilty, the trial was set in motion.
Match Outlook
He argued that the delay had imposed an unbearable emotional burden on the family, as the dismembered remains of his sister continued to be retained by the investigating agency and the trial court as material exhibits. Owing solely to the prolonged pendency of the trial, the family, he contended, had been deprived of the opportunity to perform her last rites and accord her a dignified farewell.
“The inability to perform these rites for years has caused immense emotional, psychological and spiritual trauma, which continues each day that the remains are withheld,” the petition stated.
Also Read: Delhi murder victim Shraddha Walkar’s father dies of heart attack in Mumbai
