Clamour for Special Fast Track Courts grows as accused in Gauri and Kalburgi cases get bail on grounds of delayed trial

Demand for Special Fast Track Courts grows as accused in Gauri Lankesh and M.M. Kalburgi cases granted bail.

The clamour for setting up Special Fast Track Courts to try the Gauri Lankesh and M.M. Kalburgi murder cases has grown louder even as the accused in both cases have been granted bail by the High Court of Karnataka on the grounds that there has been an inordinate delay in their trial. 

Four accused in the murder of editor-activist Gauri Lankesh — Mohan Nayak, Amit Degvekar, K.T. Naveen Kumar, and H.L. Suresh — have been granted bail.

In the murder of scholar M. M. Kalburgi, two accused — Amit Baddi and Vasudev Suryavanshi, both also accused in the Gauri Lankesh case — have been granted bail.

While Nayak was granted bail in December 2023, five others were granted bail this month. 

The Benches of the High Court of Karnataka in Kalaburagi and Hubballi-Dharwad, which have granted the bail, have cited delayed trial as a ground. Granting bail to three accused in the Gauri Lankesh case, judge S. Viswajith Shetty said, “There is undue delay in the trial and the material on record would go to show that the trial may not be completed in the near soon”.

He also noted that “though the special public prosecutor has made a submission that a special court is being constituted to try the case, to date, the State has issued no such notification”.

Families of Gauri and Kalburgi and activists who have been demanding a speedy trial for years now are upset that despite Chief Minister Siddaramaiah directing officials to take necessary measures to set up Special Fast Track Courts for speedy trials in these cases in December 2023, the courts haven’t been set up yet.