HC asks local court to continue trial in Bhanwari Devi case, holds directions on FBI expert

The Rajasthan High Court on Friday directed a court here to proceed with trial in the sensational Bhanwari Devi abduction and murder case, which has been held up for over a year as an FBI expert who conducted DNA tests did not appear before it.

Defence counsels in the case had moved the high court, praying to proceed the trial in the local court with recording of statements of the accused and close witness statement of Amber B Carr, the FBI's DNA expert.

Carr, a prosecution witness, had conducted the DNA test of the charred bones' claimed to be of Bhanwari Devi, which had been obtained by the CBI from a canal near Jodhpur.

Admitting the plea, Justice Dinesh Mehta directed the trial court to proceed further and complete trial in the case, which has been underway since May 2012.

The high court, however, decided to hold the decision to close the witness statement until the order on a similar petition pending in the Supreme Court is handed out. Closing of witness statement means the statement would not be recorded.

"As far as our prayer to close the witness of Carr, the CBI argued that an SLP (Special Leave Petition) was pending in the Supreme Court in this regard, upon which the court decided to subject its order," said defence counsel Rajendra Choudhary.

CBI counsel Panne Singh Ratri said the defence plea to close the witness statement of Carr would be subject to disposal of the SLP pending in the Supreme Court.

Failing to get Carr produced in the court, the CBI had prayed for the examination of the FBI expert through video conference, which the defence counsels strongly protested.

"Their multiple pleas in the trial court as well as the high court to get the examination done through video conference got rejected," said Choudhary, adding that this had held up the trial.

The CBI stated that it was not possible to get Carr to the court on account of some diplomatic issues and the only solution was to go ahead with the video conference.

First summons to Carr was given by the court in May, 2017 and since then about 20 summons were issued.

"All the prosecution witnesses have been examined and the last witness was examined in September 2018, except Carr," said defence counsel Sanjay Bishnoi, adding that since then the trail in the case has been held up.

The case had grabbed headlines in 2011 after the name of the then Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna had cropped up in connection with the killing of Bhanwari Devi.

Bhanwari Devi, posted as an auxiliary nurse midwife at a sub-centre in Jaliwada village, around 120 km from Jodhpur, had gone missing on September 1, 2011.