Back in the news

Indrani Mukerjea, the Guwahati girl who had risen to fame and become head of a major television, only to subsequently hit the headlines for wrong reasons six years ago, is back in the news again. She has been languishing in jail without trial after being arrested and named as the prime accused in the sensational Sheena Bora murder case. Sheena Bora was Indrani Mukerjea's daughter by her first marriage, who was allegedly murdered in the most gruesome manner by her mother in April 2015. Indrani's second husband Peter Mukerjea has reportedly severed his relationship with her and abandoned her a couple of years ago. Indrani's lawyer has pleaded before the Supreme Court that Indrani Mukerjea has been an under-trial prisoner for more than six years, and taking into account the ongoing state of affairs, he feared that the trial will not come to an end in the next 10 years. Going by media reports, as many as 185 witnesses in the case are yet to be examined. Moreover, the trial court has been reportedly vacant without a presiding officer since June 2021. It is interesting to note that Indrani Mukerjea had in a letter to the joint director of CBI on November 27, 2021, claimed that her daughter Sheena Bora was not dead. She had also claimed that Asha Korke, a police inspector of Mumbai who was her fellow inmate in Mumbai's Byculla Jail after being arrested on charges of extortion, had told her that he had met Sheena Bora in June 2021 near Dal Lake in Srinagar. The CBI, however, has dismissed her claim and said that there is "enough evidence" to confirm that "Sheena Bora is indeed dead." While it is common sense that Sheena Bora is dead and gone, it is unfortunate that an individual – in this case, Indrani Mukerjea – has to languish in prison for so long just because of the process of trial has not been completed. Indrani Mukerjea's is not an isolated case of delayed justice. A large number of people accused in connection with various crimes have been languishing in jails for years, some even for decades. According to one report, out of India's total of 4,88,511 prisoners as of 31 December 2020, as many as 3,71,848 persons, or 76.1 per cent of inmates were undertrials.