BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Friday allowed the physical appearance of actor Darshan and other accused during the cross-examination of witnesses before the trial court in the City Civil Court Complex in the Renukaswamy murder case.
Directions were issued to the chief superintendent of central prison to make necessary security arrangements for their appearance. The trial judge may also permit in-camera cross-examination, if need be, the court said.
Passing the order, Justice V Srishananda disposed of the petition filed by Darshan through his wife Vijayalakshmi on August 17. She had sought Darshan’s physical appearance before the trial court instead of video-conference from the central prison.
After the court’s order, two lists were filed: one on September 16 listing seven witnesses and another listing four material witnesses.
The court noted that the trial judge shall fix 2 to 3 consecutive dates for cross-examination of those material witnesses. Such dates shall be fixed with the consent of advocates representing the accused as well as the special public prosecutor.
Once the witnesses appear for cross-examination on those days, physical presence of the accused and any of the accused on request need to be allowed by the trial judge, said the court. It also clarified that on those days, cross-examination of witnesses should be conducted without seeking adjournments.
The court also said that as undertaken by the prosecution before the Supreme Court in this case, the prosecution should examine 60 witnesses, which should include the material witnesses submitted by the petitioner as per the list dated September 16 and 18.
Once the seven witnesses are examined in chief, all those witnesses shall be bound over, and 2-3 consecutive dates may be fixed by the trial judge in consultation with the Special Public Prosecutor and counsel, and all those witnesses shall be cross-examined on those days, the court said, permitting the trial judge to extend a day or more if the need arises.