A special women’s court in Mumbai on Monday reprimanded the special public prosecutor (SPP) in actor Jiah Khan’s death case for seeking adjournment instead of arguing on framing of charges against Bollywood actor Suraj Pancholi, who is facing the charge of abetment to suicide in the case.
When the matter came up for hearing, special judge Anju Shende asked the special public prosecutor Dinesh Tiwari to open his case against Pancholi so that the court could frame charges against him.
However, Mr Tiwari told the court he could not argue on framing of charges because he has not received the documents from the CBI as expected. He told the judge that on last date of hearing the court had directed the CBI to hand over all the documents it had gathered during further investigation of the case, and he had written them two days ago seeking the the papers but had not received any communication from them. To this the judge said, “It is surprising you always come and complain. It seems the prosecutor does not want to rely on the chargesheet but wants to bring some new documents.”
The judge also asked why the prosecution could not proceed further if it had not received certain documents that are not part of chargesheet. “Charges would be framed on the basis of chargesheet and you have it with you. Then why do you want to wait for more documents,” he asked. Annoyed with the prosecution seeking more time to open its case, the judge asked Jiah’s mother Rabiya Khan’s lawyer Swapnil Ambure to open the case. However, he also expressed his inability to argue saying, he has filed a writ petition in the high court and he also sought adjournment. Though the judge told him there was no stay by the HC and hence the court could proceed, Mr Ambure did not argue. The judge adjourned the matter on February 25, when Mr Tiwari will argue on framing of charges.
