Karnataka HC issues guidelines for trial of KCOCA cases

The Karnataka High Court has issued guidelines to be followed when the same person is facing cases under the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA) and other criminal laws.

The directions were issued in a petition filed by the state government seeking to keep in abeyance the trial against gangster Bannanje Raja while his KCOCA case was pending.

The state filed three petitions before the high court challenging the dismissal of its application by the Special Judge for KCOCA cases in Belagavi.

The state had filed the application under Section 10 of the KCOCA seeking a stay on all other regular criminal matters against Bannanje Raja till the trial was completed in the particular case. The special court had dismissed this application.

Justice Suraj Govindaraj, who heard the state’s petitions, also dismissed it. The HC noted that the trial in the KCOCA case had not yet commenced, while the trial in the other criminal cases against the accused had commenced.

Rejecting the petitions, the HC said: ”It is apparent that Section 10 would come into play and be operative only in the event of the trial of an offence under the KCOCA having commenced. If the trial has not yet commenced, there would be no question of Section 10 coming into play.” The HC further said that ”right to a fair and speedy trial is a fundamental right of any accused recognized under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. This right in my considered opinion would extend to all the criminal proceedings against the accused.” Senior counsel Kiran S Javali and Special Public Prosecutor P P Hegde, appearing in the case, informed the court that necessary guidelines had to be issued in the matter.

In the same judgment, the HC issued guidelines stating that in case of an application made under Section 10 of KCOCA, it should be accompanied by details of all other criminal proceedings pending against the said accused, the stage of the matter and if trial has commenced or not.

If the trial has commenced, details of how many witnesses are examined and details of the custody of the accused has to be provided in the application, the HC said adding that the details of availability of video-conferencing services, the calendar of dates fixed for trial in all the cases has to be filed along with the application.

The HC also directed that in KCOCA cases, the trial should be preferably on a day-to-day basis. The HC ordered the creation of a dashboard which would indicate the status of the matters pending under KCOCA against a particular accused.

The police, IT, Director of Prosecutions departments were directed to work together to create this dashboard.