Champion to be locked in a special cell in Shillong District Jail
SHILLONG: The court of the Judicial Magistrate, Shillong has remanded GNLA chairman Champion R Sangma to 14 more days of judicial custody after he was produced in the court on Sunday.
The GNLA chairman would now be locked up at the special security cell in Shillong District Jail.
While coming out of the court, Sangma expressed his willingness to hold talks with the State Government.
“I have already given some suggestions in this regard,” the GNLA chairman, whose face was covered, told reporters outside the court.
The Police personnel, however, led Sangma away in a vehicle, before he could divulge the name of the person to whom he had given his suggestions.
Earlier, Champion’s lawyer Sujit Dey had contemplated to move a bail petition. He, however, decided to submit the bail application at a later stage.
Dey, meanwhile, clarified that the GNLA chairman had not discussed with him the matter of holding talks with the government.
“Champion had once talked to me about the legal provisions of holding talks with the government. But we did not discuss the matter in details,” Dey said.
Earlier, during the arguments in the court of the First Class Judicial Magistrate, KM Lyngdoh Nongbri, there was a reference in the court to the doctor who had conducted a medical examination of Champion while he was in police custody.
Champion’s lawyer has argued that the police had failed to adhere to the Supreme Court guidelines as far as the medical examination of the accused was concerned.
According to Dey, the officials of the District Health Services are obliged to appoint a doctor who will be examining the accused every 48 hours.
To this, Investigation officer, K Prasad, told the court that it was a BSF doctor who had examined the accused. Sangma was under BSF custody in Shillong after he had been remanded in judicial custody earlier.
Sangma’s lawyer wanted to know whether the State Government or the Centre had authorised the BSF doctor to examine the accused.
Dey also told the court that the Investigation Officer should have brought the case diary when the accused was produced in the court.
According to Dey, the Investigation Officer prayed for judicial custody to the accused based on the mere statement of the accused that he ‘was the GNLA chairman’.
“I wanted to know from the court whether an accused can be a witness in his own case,” Dey told reporters following the hearing.
Dey also conveyed to the court that the last order of the court on August 12 concerning the facilities to be provided to the accused had not been adhered to by the police.
However, the Investigating Officer made it clear that the directions of the court pertaining to presence of the lawyer of the accused during interrogation and medical examination of the accused were adhered to. He also told the court that it was not a convention to provide newspapers to an accused when he is in police custody.
Meanwhile, the court disqualified an appeal by another Investigation Officer who had sought police custody of Sangma in a different criminal case related to extortion and abduction in Williamnagar, East Garo Hills.
The GNLA chairman has four criminal cases pending in Tura, two each in Williamnagar and Nongstoin and another case in Mendipathar.