SC dismisses plea for reviewing its order in LN Mishra case

New Delhi, Dec 4 (IANS) The Supreme Court Tuesday declined to revisit its Aug 17 order dismissing the petition of the accused in the 1975 assassination of then railway minister L.N. Mishra for quashing his trial on the grounds of an inordinate delay of 37 years.

Rejecting the petitions, a bench of Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice C.K. Prasad said: “We have gone through the Review Petitions and the connected papers. We see no reason to interfere with the order impugned. The Review Petitions are, accordingly, dismissed.”

Justice Dattu and Justice C.K. Prasad had taken up the review petition in their chamber.

The review of the Aug 17 order was sought by accused Ranjan Dwivedi and Sudevananda Avadhuta.

While dismissing the pleas Aug 17, the bench had directed the trial court to conclude the trial as early as possible by holding a day to day hearing of the case. The court also directed the trial court not to entertain any plea for unwarranted adjournment.

Justice Dattu who had delivered the Aug 17 judgment had said that the delay in the completion of trial in no way reflected any systemic failure but was on account of the dragging of the case by the accused.

Stressing the system had not failed and can’t be blamed, he said that 30 judges who presided over the trail court from time to time too could not be blamed as they did their best to achieve the desired results.

The case relates to the bomb attack on the dais where Mishra was addressing a public meeting in Samastipur in Bihar Jan 2, 1975. Mishra, injured in the attack, succumbed in hospital the following day.

Dwivedi is one of those accused of throwing the bomb at the dais.

IANS 2012-12-04 20:44:15