Special court asked to resume trial at Patiala House courts
Following objections by counsel for the accused and the Special Public Prosecutor in the 2G spectrum allocation case over transfer of the trial to the Tihar Jail court complex, Delhi High Court Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri on Wednesday directed the special court conducting the trial to resume the proceedings at the Patiala House courts till a suitable venue was found.
Only on Tuesday, the High Court ordered the shifting of the trial venue to the Tihar jail.
While staying the administrative order of shifting the trial , the Chief Justice asked the Registrar-General of the High Court to find a suitable place for shifting the trial venue as the present one was proving too small a place to accommodate lawyers and reporters.
Later in the day, the Registrar-General, along with Mr. Saini and lawyers for the accused, surveyed four possible venues — Pragati Maidan, Vigyan Bhavan and two other spaces at the Patiala House district courts — for shifting the trial.
Also under consideration is a proposal to enlarge the space of the present courtroom by dismantling the wooden partition between Mr. Saini's court and the adjacent court of Additional District Judge Ina Malhotra.
At a meeting with the Chief Justice and senior brother Judges, lawyers for the accused said that previously the trial of only some TADA and murder cases were conducted at the Tihar jail court complex due to security reasons. This was a normal trial and there was no such security threat, they submitted.
They also complained about the long distance they will have to travel to attend the trial. Special Public Prosecutor U. U. Lalit complained about the conveyance problem he would face to visit the Tihar jail court complex.
The Indira Gandhi assassination and the Baba Gurbachan Singh (Sant Nirankari Mission head) assassination cases were conducted in Tihar.
Keywords: 2G scam, CBI court, Tihar jail, Accused, Lawyers
Why the High Court is treating the 2G accused on par with Indira
Gandhi's assassins to hold the trial in Tihar jail? After all, the
estimated loss presented by CAG is only imaginary. It cannot be
calculated with exact precision because auction amount may vary,
sometimes even leading to loss, if bidders are not prepared to offer a
big amount. There are instances when confiscated luxury cars costing
12 lakhs were auctioned by Excise Department for 2 lakhs. So CAG has
given only an imaginary loss. Human right activists and media should
oppose this iniquitous move of the high court and trial court to shift
the proceedings to Tihar jail.
Trial in such cases of offenses are, in the opinion of the ordinary prudence in Tihar jail is not warranted, except to accommodate the media personnel and get publicity through media. Why publicity is needed for such offenses. Law should be equal to all the accused persons. Why different treatment for these accused? It is just because allegations are for looting of public funds or public scandals. If such be the case how much people looted the country and kept hard-earned of public funds in foreign banks in their or binami names. The individuals strive thrive in sensitive seats of country's governance. Does Law afraid of catching them and bring them to justice?
Please Email the Editor