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Surjagarh arson case: Gadling’s plea to inspect mirror image rejected, court says obligated to decide plea within 4 weeks
In January, the Supreme Court said that it would order expediting the proceedings as Gadling remains behind bars for seven years since his arrest in 2019, with the trial yet to commence.
On December 25, 2016, 76 vehicles transporting iron ore from Surjagarh mines, were set ablaze by armed men. (Image generated using Google Gemini)
The sessions court in Aheri, Gadchiroli, has rejected a plea filed by lawyer Surendra Gadling, accused in the 2016 Surjagarh arson case, seeking access to mirror images of electronic devices as part of the evidence against him. The Supreme Court has directed the trial court to expedite the hearing on Gadling’s discharge plea, pending since 2022.
Gadling, who is also an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case in Mumbai, is being produced for hearing through video conference. Following the Supreme Court order, original records of the case before the court in Mumbai were sent to Gadchiroli and Gadling was permitted inspection of the records. The Aheri court said that once the inspection was done on January 21, it is under obligation to conclude the hearing on charge and Gadling’s discharge plea within four weeks.
The case relates to an incident on December 25, 2016, when 76 vehicles transporting iron ore from Surjagarh mines, were set ablaze by armed men. In January, the Supreme Court said that it would order expediting the proceedings as Gadling remains behind bars for seven years since his arrest in 2019, with the trial yet to commence.
“…hard copies of electronic records have been supplied to accused Surendra but also he had the opportunity to inspect original electronic evidence. Another point is that the accused Surendra has also filed an application for discharge. Had all documents not been supplied to him, he would not have filed an application for discharge or would have raised the said issue at that time only,” special judge RB Rehpade said in the order passed on March 5.
On March 2, too, the court had rejected a plea filed by Gadling seeking additional time to prepare for arguments on his discharge plea. “…this Court is under obligation to hear accused persons on framing of charge and send records and proceedings to learned NIA Court, Mumbai, within four weeks,” the court had said.
Gadling had said that without a mirror image, he is unable to inspect original records. His contention before the court was that since the major evidence against him as claimed by the investigators is electronic, he should be permitted to inspect crucial aspects like the hash value, meta data and time stamp, to rule out that there was any tampering of the evidence. The prosecution said that all necessary documents were given to Gadling and he had an opportunity to inspect the original record. The court said that he had received copies of the documents with the chargesheet and copies of the electronic evidence were also given to him.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai court hearing the Elgaar Parishad case noted that since the original records are in Aheri, it will proceed to hear arguments on the discharge pleas of the accused, pending in Mumbai.
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