High Court of Meghalaya entitled Nidamon Chullet for release on bail in murder trial

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaDecember 14, 2022

In a sigh of relief for Nidamon Chullet, the High Court of Meghalaya on Tuesday called for fresh trial for murder case which Chullet is currently undergoing a life sentence in District Jail, Jowai and also entitled him for a conditional bail.

In a seven page judgment in the trial of Chullet versus State of Meghalaya, the High Court said since the matter is of the year of 2008, a tentative schedule is drawn up for the conduct of the trial which should be adhered to.

All papers and documents to be relied upon by the prosecution against the appellant should be made over to the appellant upon duly recording the same. The charges be framed afresh against Chullet within a week of the receipt of such papers.

The trial will commence within a week thereafter and within two weeks of the commencement of the trial, the oral evidence of original Public Witness 1 and original Public Witness 2 should be completed.

Upon the completion of recording of the evidence of such witnesses, Chullet herein will be entitled to be released on bail on such conditions as the trial court may deem appropriate.

The trial court will endeavour to complete the trial within eight weeks after the completion of recording of the evidence of both the witnesses.

However, Chullet will not be entitled to seek any adjournment and the prosecution should make every endeavour to be represented on the dates set by the trial court and the trial court may take up the matter on a daily basis.

According to the High Court judges, the impugned judgment of conviction and the consequent sentence dated January 19, 2022 stand set aside to the extent they concern Chullet. So that neither the prosecution nor Chullet herein are prejudiced, the greater details of the matter have not been gone into.

A retrial is called for, from the stage of framing of charges upon all documents to be relied upon by the prosecution against Chullet to be made over to him within a period of a fortnight.