Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 29 Aug: The Itanagar permanent bench of the Gauhati High Court (HC) on 2 August quashed and set aside the discharge order passed in favour of two alleged accused – Taya Chumi and Bijay Biswas – by the Yupia sessions court, in connection with the murder of Techi Meena Lishi.
The HC remanded the case back to the sessions court “for consideration of the matter afresh on the basis of materials available in the supplementary chargesheet and to pass a fresh order upon the same, after affording opportunity of being heard to both the parties.
“Both the parties are directed to appear before the learned court positively within 10 days from today,” the HC said.
Seven-month pregnant Techi Meena was allegedly murdered by hired killers at the behest of her husband, Lishi Roni, on 5 November, 2020.
Taya Chumi, the live-in partner of main accused Lishi Roni, and Bijay Biswas, his business manager when Meena was killed, were rearrested on 25 August, based on a petition filed by Meena’s family.
The HC’s Itanagar bench, based on a petition by Meena’s father, issued a direction for fresh consideration of the charge against Chumi and Biswas.
The family members of the deceased had challenged the sessions court’s discharge order on the same day before the Guwahati High Court against Biswas and Chumi.
The then Yupia sessions court judge, Nani Grayu, had discharged the accused in the murder case “due to lack of evidence.”
The court said that there was no material evidence against the two accused in the case on the basis of which they could be charged under any of the section chargesheeted by the police in the case.
Chumi was chargsheeted for pressuring the prime accused and helping out in transferring the mobile phones for the crime. The defence counsel had said that it was obvious that Chumi would pressurise the person (Roni) either to accept her as his wife or to discontinue the relationship.
With regard to Biswas, the counsel said that the accused was working under Roni for many years and it was under his direction that Biswas had purchased the mobile handsets and handed them over to the accused.
On Monday, speaking to reporters, the father of the deceased, Techi Kak, sought exemplary punishment for the killers of his daughter.
The United Leil Tara Youth Foundation (ULTYF) on Sunday expressed sadness over the decision of the sessions court in Yupia to discharge Chumi and Biswas.
Briefing the media at the press club here on the status of the case, ULTYF president Tana Sushil Tara said that “seven persons were arrested in the case, including the prime accused Lishi Roni, husband of late Techi Meena Lishi, and Chumi Taya. The family members are still fighting legal battles and still have not lost hope that justice will be delivered.”
Meanwhile, the United Tara AABH Youth Foundation (UTAYF) has appealed that all the seven accused in the case should not be granted bail until justice is delivered. The ULTYF and the family members of the deceased also appealed for all the seven accused to be put through proper trial.
“We are still fighting our legal battle, and we have not given up hope,” the organisation said.
Chumi will be submitting a bail petition on Tuesday, while Biswas has not applied for any bail petition.
The next hearing of the case is fixed on 15 September.
