Kamduni Gang Rape and Murder Accused Released on Strict Bail Conditions

The four accused who have been released from custody are subject to strict conditions set by the Supreme Court, which has demanded all original records pertaining to the Kamduni gang rape and murder case from the trial court and the Calcutta High Court.

The four defendants have been requested to turn in their passports, refrain from leaving the Rajarhat police station premises without the station house officer's (SHO) approval, and appear there on a regular basis.

On June 7, 2013, a 19-year-old girl was returning home from college when she was gang-raped and killed outside Kamduni hamlet, which is close to Calcutta.

On October 6 of this year, the supreme court exonerated a third death row inmate and commuted the death sentences of two other inmates to life imprisonment. After serving almost ten years in prison, it allowed the three others whose life sentences had been commuted to seven years to go free.

The brother of the victim has requested that the four accused be removed from their parole, citing their potential to not only be a "flight risk" but also a threat to the family's safety, while the Bengali government has contested the verdict.

After hearing arguments from senior advocate Sidharth Luthra for the victim's family, Bengal standing counsel Astha Sharma, senior counsel Gopal Shankarnarayan representing the state government, and advocate Phiroze Edulji for the accused, the apex court bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra issued the recent ruling.

It placed the following requirements on the four cleared accused parties:

• Without authorization from the Rajarhat SHO, they are not allowed to leave the Rajarhat police station's jurisdiction, which is under the Bidhannagar police commissionerate in North 24-Parganas.

• Before requesting such authorization, they must "furnish their entire itinerary" to the SHO "with regard to the outgoing and incoming dates of their travel." They are required to report back to the SHO after their trip.

• On the first and third Mondays and Fridays of each month, they are required to appear to the Rajarhat police station.

• If they have a passport, they have to give it up.

• They have to notify the Rajarhat SHO of any changes to their address.

• The SHO must receive the respondents' information if they have been utilizing mobile phones.

In the most recent order, Justice Gavai stated, "The registry is directed to call for the original records from the courts below."

Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Ajay Kumar Gupta of the high court have been accused by the state government of not only "giving a complete go-by to the nature of the offence" but also of "proceeding to unreasonably attach undue importance to possibility of reformation and rehabilitation of the accused persons."