No vacation for this judge

Additional sessions judge M W Chandwani presided over trial proceedings at the cost of his summer vacation to ensure a speedy closure of the Grover case

No vacation for this judge

Additional sessions judge M W Chandwani presided over trial proceedings at the cost of his summer vacation to ensure a speedy closure of the Grover case
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Dedication and hard work are two of the finest pillars of the Indian judicial system.

Additional sessions judge M W Chandwani sacrifised his summer vacation to ensure that the trial in the Neeraj Grover murder case was completed on time.

The stories in print depicted on the left, that were published by this paper, were referred to and relied upon by the defence counsel in the Neeraj Grover murder case. The defence produced 18 witnesses in the case that included four reporters from MiD DAY

The reason behind this extreme step was that as per a routine transfer order, 30 judges from the Sessions Court were due to be transferred in June 2011.

The order meant that Chandwani would vacate the trial court and make way for another judge to take charge.
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This procedure would have further delayed the trial and its conclusion, as the new judge would take time to go through the material and evidence recorded in the case thus far.

Therefore, the judge decided to let the trial proceedings continue through the summer vacations.

As per the transfer order, judge Chandwani was to take charge in a court in Nagpur. His last working day in Mumbai would have been June 3, 2011.

However, with the help of a month's extension and the extra working hours during the summer vacation, the judge was able to complete the proceedings and read out the verdict a week before the extended deadline.

Chandwani is the second judge to conduct the trial in the Grover murder case. Judge C A Jadhav was the first judge in this case, who took cognisance of charges and began presiding over the trial in 2008.

However, midway through the trial, he was transferredu00a0 and as per normal practice in the judiciary, Chandwani took his charge.