Zubeen Garg Death Case Accused to be Produced Virtually in Court Today Due to Security Concerns

GUWAHATI, Dec 16: In a significant development for the high-profile Zubeen Garg death case, all individuals accused are set to be produced virtually before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Court today, Tuesday, December 16.

The decision for a virtual production emerged after the police expressed concerns over potential apprehension of law and order problems arising from physically bringing the accused to the court.

Key Developments

• SIT Submits Charges: A voluminous charge sheet was submitted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) before the CJM court on December 12.
• Court’s Initial Order: Following the charge sheet submission, the court had initially directed the production of the accused before the court on December 16.
• Police Prayer for Virtual Production: The police, citing law and order concerns, prayed before the CJM court for a virtual production. They argued that “There is apprehension of law and order problems arising from physical producing the accused in court. So, the accused should be produced virtually before the court, instead of physically.”
• Court Orders Virtual Production: Responding to the police’s prayer, the CJM court issued an order, permitting the accused to be produced virtually today.
• Document Copies Handover: The court had also directed the CJM court to provide copies of the documents with charges against the accused to them on December 16.

Following today’s proceedings and after serving the copies of the charges to the accused, the case will be committed to the Session Court under Section 232 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNSS).

Section 103 of the BNSS is attached to the accused in the charge sheet, and since this particular section is exclusively triable by the Session Court, the case proceedings will be transferred to the higher court.