By IANS,
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Friday ordered a court in Punjab to conclude within six months the ongoing trial of a former chief of the Sikhs’ religious shrines management panel for allegedly murdering her daughter.
A bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice A.K. Patnaik ordered the Patiala court, where the trial of Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee’s (SGPC) former chief Bibi Jagir Kaur has been going on for nearly a decade, to conclude the trial within six months.
“The trial court will conclude the trial as expeditiously as possible and in any case, within a period of six months,” the bench ruled on a plea by Jagir Kaur’s son-in-law Kanwaljit Singh.
Harpreet Kaur had married Kanwaljit Singh against her mother Jagir Kaur’s wishes. This allegedly had led Jagir Kaur to plot her daughter’s successful abortion and later also her killiing in 2000.
Appearing for Singh, counsel Nidhesh Gupta told the apex court that Jagir Kaur was misusing the grant of bail and was threatening witnesses and forcing them to turn hostile.
Her counsel Jaspal Singh, however, contended that the trial was nearing conclusion as all witnesses have been examined.
The bench earlier asked Gupta if merely making an observation by it would expedite the trial at the Patiala court. He sought specific direction by it for conclusion of trial at the earliest and within six months, which the court acceded to.