The Delhi Police have moved the High Court against a trial court order passed 15 months ago that cleared Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in a case related to the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar, reported Bar and Bench.
Pushkar was found dead in the suite of a five-star hotel in Delhi on January 17, 2014. The police had charged Tharoor in May 2018 with abetment to suicide and marital cruelty.
However, in August last year, the trial court discharged the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram. Special judge Geetanjali Goel had said that the court found no evidence to show that Tharoor acted in a manner that provoked, encouraged or incited Pushkar to die by suicide.
At Thursday’s hearing in the High Court, Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for Tharoor, pointed out that there was a 15-month delay in filing the case.
“The petition copy has not been served on us,” he also said. “They [the police] have deliberately used the email id [to send the petition copy] which was suspended by them.”
The High Court then issued a notice to the police to file a condonation of delay in the case. In legal parlance, condonation refers to when a person or a party has ignored an offence or forgiven it earlier, but later wants to file a legal complaint.
Section 468 of the Code of Criminal Procedure prescribes a limitation period for courts to take cognisance of an offence, depending on its severity. However, Section 473 of the CrPC states that a court can take cognisance of an offence after the expiry of limitation period if it is satisfied that the delay has been properly explained or it is necessary to do so for imparting justice.
The High Court also recorded Delhi Police’s submission that the documents in the case will not be supplied to anyone who is not a party to the case. The matter will be heard on February 7.
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