Calcutta high court directs conclusion of trial in acid attack case within a month

|

Sabana Khatun was in a relationship with one Icha Mondal. On the night of 23 June 2012, Icha Mondal took Sabana to his residence to convince his parents to grant them permission to get married but they faced stiff opposition from Icha's family. This led to a volatile situation where Sabana was assaulted by Icha and his family members. Thereafter, Sabana was attacked with acid by Icha and his father (Illias Mondal) with the aid of his other family members and acid was poured down Sabana's throat. As Ilias Mondal's hands covered her mouth, she could not breathe or throw the acid out of her mouth. As a result, she became senseless and the acid did massive internal damage to her organs. While Sabana was unconscious, the accused stripped Sabana of her clothes and started pouring acid on her body, leaving her with profound wounds on her left thigh, on the middle of her chest and marks on her right arm. SLIC filed a writ petition in the High Court praying for compensation and in pursuant to such the Calcutta High Court directed the State to pay a total sum of Rs. 3 lakhs to Sabana. Lawyers of SLIC subsequently filed an application praying for cancellation of Bail granted to the accused persons and the Session Judge, Alipore in Criminal Misc. Case No. 12687/12 cancelled the anticipatory bail earlier granted to the accused. The accused approached the High Court against the order of cancellation of Bail by filing an application being CRR 941 of 2014. The Calcutta High Court directed the accused persons to surrender before the Trial Court and on the condition that after release, they shall report to the concerned Police Station once in every week until the trial is concluded. It was further directed that the accused persons must always be present in the trial court on each and every date of trial and if found absent on any date without any justifiable reason Bail granted may be cancelled and they would be taken into custody. Most importantly, the High Court directed the Trial Court to treat the matter as a special case, and all endeavors must be made to conclude the trial within a month from the re-opening of the trial court after vacation.