The High Court of Karnataka has pulled up a trial court for “carelessness and negligence” in not completing within a year the trial of a criminal case against persons accused of leaking question papers of the second-year pre-university final examination of April 2016.
Justice B.A. Patil passed the order while dismissing a petition for release on bail filed by Kumaraswamy, who has been termed kingpin of the question paper leak episode and a habitual offender in such cases by the police. He had sought release on account of delay in completion of trial.
“Though the High Court on September 9, 2019 had directed the trial court to expedite the trial and complete it within an outer limit of one year from receipt of copy of the order, the trial court has not bothered to expedite the trial,” Justice Patil said, directing the registry to seek an explanation from the trial court.
It was pointed out to the High Court on behalf of the accused as well as the prosecution that the trial had not seen progress because of the non-availability of some of the accused persons, who have either absconded or are not attending trial, after release on bail.
However, the High Court said that the trial court had not only failed to adopt the guideline issued by the apex court for securing the accused person for trial when they fail to cooperate, but had also not even bothered to send a request to it seeking extension of time to complete the trial.
