Fate of three high-profile cases hangs in balance

JODHPUR: As all the three high-profile cases involving a Bollywood star, two politicians and a self-styled godman in the Rajasthan High Court enter the New Year, the fate of all of them seems veering into an state of indecision.
While actor Salman Khan's alleged poaching case enters into its 18th year, the alleged murder case of Bhanwari Devi involving two politicians Mahipal Maderna and Malkhan Bishnoi enter into the 5th year, and are still in the trial phase of trial.The third one involving Asaram for alleged sexual exploitation of her minor student enters 4th year, which has almost reached the culmination of trial with the last prosecution witness being examined.
Of the four cases against Khan, three for poaching of chinkaras and a black buck near Jodhpur, and one for using arms with expired licences, Khan was convicted in two of the poaching cases by the trial court in 2006 sentencing him 5 years and 1 year, in both cases respectively. In another case of poaching at Kankani and using arms, he's still undergoing trial. Khan's counsel H M Saraswat said that the arguments on the appeal against the two sentences in the high court have started only in November this year. which will continue from January 5. and the trail in one of the poaching cases and the one under arms act is still in progress.
The most interesting turn in the Arms Act case had surfaced on February 25, when the case was all set to get a verdict, but the sudden emergence of an undecided application by the prosecution moved in 2006 deferred the verdict. This was followed by the permission from the high court to the prosecution to recall five witnesses for re-examination.
Similarly, Bhanwari Devi abduction and murder case, even after four years, has seen examination of only 88 prosecution witnesses from a total of 298 witnesses. The chargesheet of the case was filed by the CBI in April 2012 against 16 accused with the 17th accused, Indra Bishnoi, still at large.
Senior special counsel for CBI, Ashok Joshi, said that charges against these accused were read out in October 2012 and then again in August 2014 due to various revised petitions. "Finally, the trial of the case started in August 2014 and 88 prosecution witnesses have been examined till now," he said. Apex court has also taken note of the delay in trial of the case. "We have replied to it that the delay was being caused by the defence as there are 16 accused and all have separate advocates examining each witness separately, which was taking longer," Joshi said.
Lastly, the case against Asaram facing trial under POCSO, however, progressed faster among the three, followed by the directions of the high court to hold the hearing on day-to-day basis. Counsel for the victim girl, Pramod Verma, said that out of 58 prosecution witnesses, 43 have been tried and 14 had been struck down given their insignificance. "Currently, the examination of the last prosecution witness, the investigating officer of the case, is under progress in the Sessions Court," he said.
This case hogged media glare mostly for the ruckus by his devotees, threats and attacks on the case witnesses. Four witnesses of the case have been attacked so far, of which Amrut Prajapati and Kripal Singh, were killed, whereas two others - Rahual Sachan and Mahendra Chawla, remained lucky.