Shraddha Walkar murder case: Court rejects Poonawala’s plea for trial only twice a month

A court has dismissed the plea of Aaftab Amin Poonawala, the lone accused in the sensational Shraddha Walkar murder case, seeking trial to be held only twice every month to give suitable time to his counsel to prepare his defence, holding that the request appeared to be "only a tool to protract and delay the trial."

The court also refused to immediately release the bones of the victim for cremation, saying it was required for identification by police witnesses.

Walkar, who was in a live-in relationship with the accused, was allegedly strangled by Poonawala on May 18, 2022.

According to the 6,629-page chargesheet filed by Delhi Police in January last year, Poonawala allegedly dismembered her body, kept it in a fridge, and disposed the pieces in desolate places across the city over several days to avoid getting caught. The body parts were discovered later.

In an order passed earlier this month, Additional Sessions Judge Manisha Khurana Kakkar said out of the 212 prosecution witnesses, 134 had been examined, and consecutive hearings were necessary for the examination of several outstation witnesses.

"The prayer of the accused that only two dates of hearing be fixed in a month for examination of prosecution witnesses appears to be only a tool to protract and delay the trial as the number of prosecution witnesses is excessive and considerable time is required to record the lengthy testimonies of prosecution witnesses, especially police witnesses," she said.

Noting the submissions of Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad that recording the testimony of police witness Constable Deepak took seven dates, the judge said fixing only two dates every month for hearing would "severely prejudice and protract the trial."

Prasad had objected to the prayer, contending that fixing only two dates every month would significantly delay the trial.

The court said, "It appears that since substantial witnesses have been examined and material witnesses are yet to be examined after the filing of the supplementary challan along with the witnesses cited in the main chargesheet, the accused is trying to deliberately delay the trial."

Referring to the plea filed by the victim’s father, Vikas Walkar, to expeditiously release the seized bones for performing her last rites, it said the accused’s right to a fair trial cannot be allowed to "completely trump the right of the victim to a dignified cremation" and the right of the deceased’s father to cremate her body with dignity and respect.

These rights could not be "completely thwarted by slackening the pace of trial at the whims and fancy of the accused, who had been adequately accommodated on each date of hearing to give him ample opportunity to prepare his defence as well as to cross-examine the witnesses," the court said.

It, however, said the remains of the victim cannot be released now as many police witnesses involved in the "alleged recovery of bones" were yet to be examined. The skeletal remains were also required for their "identification and exhibition" by the police witnesses, it said.

"However, keeping in view the fact that the father of the victim has a right to cremate the bones of his deceased daughter, the matter shall be taken up expeditiously on consecutive dates of hearing each month in order to conclude the prosecution evidence, after which at least some part of the bones may be released to him for cremation, at an appropriate stage of proceedings," the court said.

Poonawala has been booked under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code.

A supplementary chargesheet of around 3,000 pages, consisting mainly of digital and forensic evidence, was filed in May this year.