Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Dec 19: The state high court on Friday December 18, passed an order confirming that an order issued by the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court that had extended the time given for filing charge sheet in the court from 90 to 180 days is in order.

A criminal appeal filed by the accused in the case was heard by the high court division bench comprising of Chief Justice, A S Oka, and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty. The bench said that the charge sheet period extension is legal and hence the appeal cannot be considered. It also stated that there is no provision to file an appeal in cases filed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. As the appellants requested to modify the appeal into a writ petition, the bench permitted six weeks time to file the modified application.

Advocate for the appellants, Anees Ali Khan, contended that the NIA special court had not served notices on the appellants when extending the charge sheet period. He argued that instead of giving a few days extension, the court had given full 90 days extension, which therefore should be treated as a full-scale judgement that has deprived the rights of the appellants. He requested to cancel the order issued by the special court on November 3.

NIA special public prosecutor, P Prasannakumar, said that there is a provision under the UAPA act to extend the charge sheet period by 90 days where the investigation has not been completed. He said that the order of the special court is in the form of an interim order and that therefore it cannot be treated as full-scale judgement. He argued that there is no provision to file appeals in the case, but the accused can file bail applications.