The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the Karnataka High Court order directing Nithyananda to appear for a potency test on August 6 at Victoria Hospital in connection with a four-year-old rape case.
A bench of Justices Ranjana Prakash Desai and N V Ramana asked the Karnataka government to respond to a special leave petition filed by him and other accused challenging the high court order refusing to quash the case against them.
The apex court, however, pulled up the petitioners for their “non-cooperation” with the investigating agency as the public prosecutor contended the accused had shown little effort in helping to finish the pending matters.
“We want to clarify and our anxiety is also that whatever is the case and whosoever is the accused, all investigations must be done without any delay. We are conveying this to you (petitioners) that no efforts should be made to stall the proceedings. Things must progress and everything must be done in an appropriate manner,” the bench said, reminding the counsel that the case was of 2010 and it was now 2014.
Senior advocate Mohan Parasaran, appearing for the petitioner, contended that the high court had passed the order on July 16 without giving them an opportunity of hearing, in violation of the principle of natural justice.
He claimed that the high court dismissed a plea for quashing of the criminal case on a motion moved by the public prosecutor.
An adjournment sought on medical ground by the petitioners counsel was denied and the matter was preponed from August 28, another petition filed by advocate Nishanth Patil on behalf of accused Dhanashekaran and others, said.
The counsel, representing the victim, submitted that the petitioners had themselves given an undertaking before the court that they would appear before the Ramanagara court on August 18. He also questioned the anxiety shown by the petitioner against undergoing medical test.
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