New Delhi, Jun 12 (PTI) A Delhi court has dismissed an accused's plea to recall a prosecution witness in a February 2020 riots case.
Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh was hearing the application filed by one Sonu Saifi for recalling the witness.
In an order dated June 4, the court said the prosecution witness absented himself on several occasions, but he appeared after bailable warrants were issued against him, and on May 10 last year, Saifi’s counsel, Mehmood Pracha failed to appear, following which the predecessor judge was forced to close the opportunity for the witness' cross-examination.
"It has been stated in the application that the counsel (Pracha) was hardly 10-15 minutes late on May 10, 2024, due to a traffic jam. However, that is not a correct submission, and as per the court record, it is seen that the court waited for 10 minutes after 2 PM, and when the counsel failed to appear, the opportunity to cross-examine the prosecution witness was closed," the court said.
Saifi’s counsel had appeared only at 2.45 pm, and the predecessor court could not be faulted for closing the opportunity, it added.
Agreeing with the submissions of the prosecution, the court said the application was moved after a year's delay, also after 26 witnesses had been examined and when the matter was at the final stage.
"The explanation given for filing this application at a belated stage despite there being ample opportunities over this one year, is a lame one. Merely because the counsel looked at the file only at a later stage due to the fact that the accused or applicant (Saifi) has multiple cases, and then realised that it was a case which would call for further examination of the prosecution witness; this witness cannot be recorded," the court said.
The counsel was found to have earlier cross-examined the witness and seemed satisfied with the proceedings, running into 10 pages.
"Therefore, for the fault of the accused in not meeting his counsel in time or of the counsel not realising the need to move this application at the earliest stage, the trial cannot be prolonged, especially when it is on its last legs," the court said.
The order held, "The witness at this stage cannot be recalled merely because the counsel, after one year, realised that this witness is required to be recalled."