Ram Jethmalani omitted to mention before the Delhi High Court that the victims of the Upahaar fire tragedy were themselves to be blamed for leaving the secure environs of their respective homes and heading for the movie hall owned by the Ansals. According to him all criminals in the Capital are innocent and all citizens are the culprits creating mischief for his clients. His assertion that people appearing before the court and media with blood shot eyes was responsible for miscarriage of justice, undermines the caliber of judges hearing the case and competence of the media to see through such ploys.
His loyalty to his infamous clients can be gauged from the kind of cases he has taken-up, such as defending the killers of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, people involved in market scams (Harshad mehta and Ketan Parekh), and a host of gangsters, and smugglers as well as the British girl Daisy Angus who was acquitted of hashish smuggling after five years in jail, the defense of Manu Sharma, prime accused in the Jessica Lall murder case.
Speaking at the third Palkhivala Memorial Lecture at the IMAGE auditorium in Chennai on 10 Sep 2003 on "The Judicial System - need for urgent reforms and Uniform Civil Code", Ram Jethmalani said that in the 1970s when he asked Palkhivala to appear on his behalf in a case against Indira Gandhi's Government, which had filed a case against RJ for a speech he made to the Kerala bar against the emergency, Palkhivala obtained an injunction which gave Jethmalani the time to leave the country for political asylum in the United States. Much later, Ram Jethmalani was to declare that he regarded Nani Palkhivala as the Joseph Schumpeter of India for his efforts at initiating creative destruction. He was not wrong; Nani Palkhivala should have allowed the state to arrest him. Or better still for India, Ram Jethmalani should have stayed on in the US and spared his already harassed countrymen the ignominy of having to see him defending criminals again.
2 comments:
what is wrong in defend who are 'ACCUSED' of a crime. If people so much respect the laws which give punitive provisions for criminals, why do they disrespect the same laws which give every accused the right to be represented by a lawyer, why do they oversee those laws which give the right to a lawyer to take up any case, why do they dont see that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer not to accept a case only on the bassis that people find the accused as guilty. These facts are also to be thoughly considered before passing value judgments.
When you say that Ram Jethmalani should have been left to be In the US, you forget his contribution in voicing his opinions during the emergency, you forget how he was exercising his free speech and advocating for it, which could be one of the reasons that you and me can have an open discussion on this blog today.
You forget that he was instrumental in cases like ADM Jabalpore for which you cant be detained ina prison without any valid reason today.
You forget cases like the mandal I and II that he has fought.
It is very convenient to cut through a person for accepting cases which he thinks he should, and if he doesnt, isnt it a mockery of the provisions of the constitution, which itself is the birthplace of all the criminal justice you are harping on.
You must know before criticising, and knowing does not come form reasing articles from the newspapers and the internet as they are inherently biased, not necessarily against people like Jethmalani but surely biased towards hot and gossip like news.
Again to reiterate, there is no wrong in defending an accused legally.
Thanx for the comments on my 'Advani entry' in on my blog. I understand your views but not necessarily agree with them. I have published your comments without any moderation, just below the 'entry' without any moderation.
If you analyse the problems plaguing our great country, you will find law and order situation as the chief among them. I think it is because one can commit any crime like murder, kidnapping for ransom, rape ... whatever, and then find an Advani to keep him beyond the reach of law. That is the reason why people do not have any respect for laws in the country. Corruption amongst those responsible for maintaining law and order also adds to the woes of ordinary people
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