A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday began hearing a reference on a petition by DMK leader K. Anbazhagan challenging Special Public Prosecutor Bhavani Singh’s authority to appear before the Karnataka High Court on appeals filed by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and her co-accused against their conviction in a wealth case.
The Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra made it clear that “we will not go into how the man (Mr. Singh) behaved”, but would instead decide on the question of law.
In short, the Bench would interpret Section 301 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which says that the “Public Prosecutor or Assistant Public Prosecutor in charge of a case may appear and plead without any written authority before any court in which that case is under inquiry, trial or appeal”.
The Bench was constituted after a two-judge Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and R. Banumathi delivered a split verdict on whether Mr. Singh exceeded his authority by appearing before the Karnataka High Court.
Justice Lokur held that Mr. Singh's presence vitiated the appeal proceedings.
The Bench says“we will not go into how the man (Mr. Singh) behaved”, but would instead decide on the question of law
