The trial of 47 accused in the Madan Tamang murder case of 2010 is not possible through video conferencing owing to infrastructural problems, the chief sessions judge here was informed today.
The Darjeeling district judge in a communication to City Sessions Court Chief Judge K K Kumai said that at present there was no Internet facility in Darjeeling.
The facility has been suspended by the West Bengal government since June 18 in a bid to curb communication among trouble makers in the hills, where an indefinite bandh called by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung is in force for three months.
The communication also informed that irregular electricity supply was another hindrance to holding any such trial through video conferencing from the hills.
These apart, there is no court room in the Darjeeling district court large enough to hold the trial of 47 accused persons together, said the communication that was submitted before the court of judge in-charge Sanjoy Mukherjee in the absence of chief judge Kumai.
The Supreme Court had on August 16 ordered that the proceedings should be conducted through video conferencing from Darjeeling.
The apex court had asked the chief sessions judge's court here to hold the trial mainly through video conferencing for which appropriate facility should be set up at Kolkata and Darjeeling.
It had, however, clarified that if the trial court was of the opinion that physical presence of a particular accused and/or a witness was necessary before the chief sessions judge's court, the judge can pass specific order in this regard.
The chief judge of city sessions court judge had on August 17 discharged GJM supremo Bimal Gurung in the Madan Tamang murder case and directed that charges be framed against 47 other accused persons.
Among the 47 accused are Gurung's wife Asha and several other leaders of GJM.
All India Gorkha League leader Madan Tamang was attacked with sharp weapons when he was overseeing preparations for a public meeting at Clubside in the heart of Darjeeling town on May 21, 2010, and was declared brought dead at the sadar hospital there.
The Supreme Court had on October 8, 2013, directed transfer of hearing in the case from Darjeeling sadar court to the city sessions court here on a petition by Tamang's widow Bharati.
She had claimed that witnesses could be impacted if the trial was held in Darjeeling.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)