High Court judges' bench also decides against reviewing Lamha's release

The judges' bench of the High Court has also upheld the decision of the High Court's Registrar to reject the appeal of the Criminal Court's release of Haleemath Lamha, a former Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) nurse accused of murdering Filipino nurse Mary Grace Oned Pineda, who also worked at the same hospital.

Prosecutors charged Marvin S. Y. Vargas, also a nurse at IGMH and the husband of Mary Grace, along with Lamha. Authorities believe that Lamha and Marvin were having an affair, and colluded in murdering Mary in October, 2021.

In the ongoing case at the Criminal Court, Marvin stands charged with intentional homicide, while Lamha is charged with knowingly participating in murder as well as unauthorised possession of another party's property.

The second charge against Lamha is for being in possession of medication which can only be used within hospital premises.

While Marvin remains in custody, Lamha was released by the Criminal Court last month on a conditional bail.

Following this, prosecutors attempted to appeal the release at the High Court. However, the court's Registrar rejected the appeal, after which it was escalated to the judges' bench for review last week. However, the ruling came in favour of the Registrar.

Judge Mohamed Saleem and Judge Mohamed Faisal, held that there was no error in the Registrar's decision. However, Judge Mohamed Niyaz held that the Registrar's decision was not correct.

Judge Niyaz said the delay in the trial is not a reason to release people from custody. He stressed that the High Court must look into whether it is possible to release people from custody instead of solving the issue causing the trial's delay.

Lamha was also released from custody by the Criminal Court last year. However, the High Court then ordered Lamha to be remanded back into custody.