A Bengaluru court ♐has granted bail to Sharad Bhausaheb Kalaskar, the last accused in jail in connection with the murder of activist-journalist🎀 Gauri Lankesh.
With this order, all the 17 accused facing trial in the case are now out on bailܫ. There are a total of 18 accused in the case.
Lankesh was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assassins outside her home in Bengaluru on the nig♈♈ht of September 5, 2017. Of the total 18 accused arrested since, Vikas Patil is still absconding.
Hearing Kalaskar’s bail plea on January 8, Justice Muralidhജara Pai B of the Principal City Civil and Sessions Court in Bengaluru allowed his release, saying, 'prolonged detention violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution.'
“As already pointed out, on this day all the accused facing trial in the case except♉ the Petitioner are on bail. As such the P💎etitioner is entitled to bail even on the ground of parity. Further, admittedly the Petitioner has been in custody in the case since 4.9.2018. In several decisions, the Hon'ble Apex Court has repeatedly held that speedy trial is a fundamental right implicit in the broad sweep and content of Article 21 of the Constitution and that if the period of deprivation of personal liberty pending trial becomes unduly long, the fairness assured by Article 21 of the Constitution would receive a jolt,” Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying.
The prosecution, however, opposed the plea and argued that Kalaskar was earlier convicted inღ the murder of rationalist thinker Narendra Dabholkar and his release poses a “risk of reoffending.”
The court said, “This court has already examined 164 witnesses, and almost an equal number have beeﷺn presented by the prosecution.” as per the reports.
In July last year, a single-judge of the Karnataka High Court had granted bail to three accused persons in the case. A month later, it had granted bail to four more accused persons in the case. All these accused had sought ba﷽il on the ground of parity, citing the relief granted to their co-accused, Mohan Nayak, who was granted bail by the High Court in December༺ 2023 on the ground of delay in trial.
