Supreme Court: Deciding the case dealing with the self-styled godman Nithyananda Swamy along with others accused of rape, the bench of Ranjana P. Desai and N.V. Ramana came down heavily upon the accused persons and prosecution for not cooperating with the investigating agencies and directed for medical examination of the accused.
The said petition was filed by the accused seeking quashment of proceedings in the High Court of Karnataka, where, as per pertioner’s counsel Mohan Parasaran, fair opportunity of hearing was not given to the accused. The said submission was, opposed by the State’s counsel M.N. Rao who contended the accused had used dilatory tactics in the said proceedings. It was also pointed out that the accused had also challenged the appointment of prosecutor and thereby, obtained stay order which was operative for considerable time. The accused also argued that as per Section 53-A CrPC, the medical examination of the person accused of rape should be done immediately after the arrest and hence, a medical examination at this stage is not warranted. The Court, however, noted that the said contention was raised in order to avoid the medical examination and that Section 53-A CrPC does not put fetters on the investigating agency to get the accused examined at a later stage.
Expressing it’s extreme displeasure about the lackadaisical manner in which the proceedings were carried out in the present case where the complaint was filed and the charge-sheet was submitted in 2010 but no further investigation was conducted by the prosecution, the Court held that the prosecution should gear up in order to facilitate the commencement of trial and the accused should also cooperate with the Court in or else adverse inference will be drawn against them. Siva Vallabhaneni v. State of Karnataka, Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No.5844 of 2014, decided on 03.09.2014
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