HC Upholds Order Clearing Ex-Assam CM Prafulla Mahanta Of 'Secret Killing' Charges

The Gauhati High Court has upheld its five-year-old order that cleared former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta of charges that he ordered the “secret killing” of relatives of ULFA militants during his tenure.
     
Observing that the petitioners have failed to provide substantial proof in support of their claims, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Mitali Thakuria dismissed an interlocutory application (civil) filed on this issue.
     
‘Interlocutory application’ is an application to the court in any suit, appeal, or proceeding already instituted in such court.
     
The division bench also said that the allegations levelled against Mahanta were part of a conspiracy by certain political parties and groups to malign his public image.
     
Reacting to the June 12 judgment, Mahanta's wife and former Rajya Sabha MP Joyshree Goswami Mahanta, said that her husband has finally got justice, after suffering immense mental torture. She added that the ex-chief minister is now unwell.
     
She criticised those who for years had levelled “false and baseless allegations” of  ‘secret killings’ against him.
     
The interlocutory application was filed by Rajya Sabha MP Ajit Kumar Bhuyan and Ananta Kalita, a survivor of an assassination attempt, challenging the court's order of September 3, 2018, which had held as invalid an inquiry commission report indicting Mahanta of “extrajudicial killings”.
     
Dismissing the application, the bench observed that the petitioners had filed the interlocutory application 531 days after the Gauhati High Court's earlier verdict besides making ''inconsistent and contradictory pleadings in the three affidavits''.
     
''The application for condonation of delay is not based on bonafide assertions and grounds and hence, the same does not merit acceptance and as a consequence, the plea is dismissed,'' the judges observed.