Plea opposes RPF jawan's referral to mental hospital
Mumbai, April 9 -- A notice was issued on Wednesday to dismissed Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable Chetan Singh Chaudhary - accused of shooting dead his senior and three identifiably Muslim passengers on board the Mumbai-Jaipur Superfast Express on July 31, 2023 - after the widow of one of the victims filed an application in the sessions court, where his trial is underway. A similar notice was issued to the public prosecutor.
Chaudhary has been admitted to Thane Mental Hospital as per the order passed on March 25, by additional sessions judge PV Chatur, in response to his second bail plea. In her application filed through advocate Karim Pathan on Wednesday, the widow of Asghar Ali, the intervenor in the case, contended there was no factual basis to order a fresh referral to a mental hospital as the District Mental Health Review Board had already submitted a report to the court on March 24, saying the accused was mentally stable and fit to stand trial.
While his second bail plea cited mental instability as the primary reason for bail, neither in the application nor in oral arguments did his lawyer ask that he be readmitted to a mental hospital. The dismissed constable had been attending court regularly since the second bail plea was filed.
The recall application said since the Thane Mental Hospital had completed Chaudhary's treatment last year and certified in its discharge report that he was stable, another referral was superfluous. The Mental Healthcare Act had been "misapplied" in the March 25 order to readmit him at the hospital, as "evidence of mental illness (had not been) produced and contested".
The application further pointed out that many eye witnesses had testified to the accused's "hatred towards Muslims", and urged that the March 25 order be set aside....
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