West Bengal: Invoking a citizen’s fundamental right to speedy trial and personal liberty enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution, the Calcutta High Court on Monday granted bail to an accused who has been in custody for over four years for allegedly burning his wife to death. The plea for bail was filed by petitioner Zakir Sheikh before a division bench of Justices Arijit Banerjee and Apurva Sinha Ray. His lawyer said Zakir has been in custody for four years and two months. His father, another accused, has already been granted anticipatory bail. Zakir has been in custody since September 18, 2020. The lawyer said the trial is progressing at a very slow pace.
Both Zakir and his father were booked under several IPC sections, including murder and dowry. In the case, the mother of the deceased wife had lodged a complaint alleging that her daughter came to know that Zakir was already married to another woman, but the father-son duo kept demanding dowry from her. In December 2019, the father-son duo came to her house and when she returned home, she found her daughter in a “burnt condition”. The daughter had reportedly named Zakir as the accused in her dying statement. The petitioner denied the allegations. The state opposed the bail plea. The court found that only seven of the 19 named witnesses were examined.
The witnesses did not appear before the trial court on the last 12 dates. The petitioner refiled his plea for bail on the ground of inordinate delay in the progress of the trial. The bench said: “The prosecution may have a strong case against the petitioners. We do not comment on the merits. No matter how strong the case is, it cannot justify keeping the accused person in jail indefinitely. Article 21 of the Constitution enshrines the fundamental right of a citizen to speedy trial and personal liberty.” Noting that 12 witnesses were yet to be examined and there was practically no possibility of the trial concluding soon, the court allowed the bail plea on the basis of Article 21 of the Constitution.
