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Setting aside the conviction of the then Special Public Prosecutor I U Khan, a three-judge Bench of Justices B N Agrawal, G S Singhvi and Aftab Alam, however, asked as to why the quantum of punishment for Anand, who was the defence lawyer in the BMW case, should not be enhanced.
The Delhi High Court had in August last, while holding the two lawyers guilty of contempt, debarred them from practising for four months and stripped them off their seniority status. The two lawyers had challenged the judgement in the Supreme Court which did not stay it.
The apex Court also held that the sting operation carried out by the news channel NDTV two years ago showing the defence and prosecution lawyers trying to influence controversial witness Kulkarni as not a typical case of trial by the media but undertaken in public interest.
Several noted lawyers immediately welcomed the judgement saying that it would help clean up the system and is good for its health. Such things should be exposed in public interest, they said.
Noted criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani said the apex Court's verdict is good for the advocates as well as for legal machinery.
Jethmalani said that Anand "deserved it (punishment) because he was trying to make money at the cost of his client"
Another senior advocate K T S Tulsi said, "The Supreme Court has again reiterated the importance of legal profession and its duty to the society and to the courts. We lawyers need to remember that legal profession is not trade or business but a noble profession."
In its verdict, the apex Court termed the act of the then Special Public Prosecutor Khan as "inappropriate".
The two senior advocates were convicted by the High Court for obstructing administration of justice and, as a punishment, debarred from appearing in courts for four months and fined Rs 2,000 each.
S K Aggarwal, counsel for Khan hailed the judgement saying, "Justice has been done as far as my case is concerned, we should respect the judgement. It is a good judgement and we are happy about it."
Both Anand and Khan were purportedly shown as colluding to influence Kulkarni in the BMW hit-and-run case in the sting operation on May 30, 2007 by offering him money. The High Court had taken suo motu cognisance of it and started proceedings against the two lawyers.
The High Court had recently awarded two years prison term to Sanjeev Nanda, the grandson of retired Naval chief S M Nanda, for mowing down six persons, including three policemen, on January 10, 1999.
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this thief should already be in jail. is he in jail, please inform the indian democracy.
He is the quintessential scoundrel of the century. and its vindication of the country that this SCOUNDREL has been fixed finally by the judiciary. Three cheers !!!
The APEX COURT has delivered a land mark judgment by a bench Of Justices Agarwal, GC SANGHVI and Aftab in upholding the High Court judgment of punishing the erring Sr. Advocates of HC/SC. Inducement and 'Mili -Bhagat' of Prosecution and Defence councils of witnesses of both sides was well heard of at lower Courts. India feels proud of our learned SC JUDGES which shows the metal that even the top Advocates of Judiciary won't be spared in such cases.
If R.K. Anand was in US, he would had died serving in jail.
Earlier R K Anand was debarred for jusr 4 months. After over 30 years of practice if he did not he know that what he was hoing was illegal, against the his very profession and the law then he should be debarred for life. Yes he manipulated the law.
I am happy that SC is considering enhancing this miscreants punishment. I think he should be handed out the most exemplary sentence to serve as deterrent for other such agents of injustice.Not only should he be barred from ever practicing in the court of law but also be thrown behind bars for a good period of time.But let it not be in the same cell as common criminals, else he will spoil them too.
THE LAWYER GETS AWAY WITH ALMOST A SLAP ON THE WRIST, AND THE BENEFITS ARE REAPED BY THE CLIENTS. WHAT A SWEETHEART DEAL. I AM SURE THAT SOME OTHER GOVT. OFFICIALS BENEFITTED TOO! WHAT A DEMOCRACY! WHAT A COUNTRY! WHAT A JUDICIAL SYSTEM!
It is unfortunate that R.K Anand is given a namesake punishment, he should be disqualified and tried, He has done a serious crime of confuse court and was trying prevent it from delivering a correct judgment. Such people are the cancer in our juduciery; eliminate them as early as possible.
Corruption is the heaviest stone in the neck of our nation.We feel powerless before corruption because the power and authority to eradicate corruption is predominantly vested with corrupt people only.By not giving exemplary punishment to these lawyers who are corrupting the whole process of law, we have compromised with it at the highest level.
shame on judicial system indeed!
R K Anand thought he would get away with dishonesty. But one's dishonesty catches you some time or the other in life and one has to pay the price be it a judge , advocate or any body else. But R K Anand just symbolizes the corruption in our society and it also tells us that bigger the person is , his involved in corrupt activities is more , barring a few exceptions.
So finally after Nanda's son mowed down 6 people he gets a 4 months term 2 years after the incident. The lawyers are strongly punished by Supreme court by slapping a 2000 rupees fine. Is this pre 1900 era ? is 2000 even a fine in todays time for any court lawyer ? I just read that IIT students who were alleged to do verbal ragging were fined 50,000 by IIT and the scholarships were withdrawn. So this decision must have been given by the judges during a fun decision times- like lucky draw .
The token 'punishment' given to Anand only further confirms widely held belief that all those connected with infamous BMW (murder) case have got away too easily, perhaps thanks to their money power. The SC verdict clearly shows that not everything is above board in BMW case, though only the Anand episode has come to light. Surely, the Nanda money must have been deployed to derail and disrupt justice so that one who killed six innocent, poor humanbeings with drunk, rash driving got away so easily. I strongly feel even reduction on Nanda's sentence needs to be looked into by another, higher court. The widespread anger and unhappiness across all classes of people demands that Nands is given punishment his crime deserves. This the least we could do to restore people's dwindling trust in the legal system
It is absurd to see his punishment as fine or debarring him in appearing in courts, he should be tried afresh and put behind bars for his attempts to prevent administration of justice - India, which is surging ahead, must take a drastic action to clean its acts, and primarily in punishing all those who obstruct its legal system, and what a shame who gets elevated to practice in Supreme Court and as office bearer of Indian Law Institute
Someone should put the guidelines like Do's and Don'ts for the advocates and clients also! In many cases, advocates take advantage of the situation to extract money or other favours...
2000? Am I reading this correct? Whereas for ragging they take 50000. Why will the criminals not become bolder if the punishment is no where equal to the crime? We need to encourage our children to forget the law and learn to rise above it.
I am UNHAPPY,I feel the punishment given to the defense counsel is not enough, it should be atleast one year. This judgement should have been an eye-opener for all the people who thinks they are taller than judiciary
Indian legal system is at the verge of collapse. No one trust courts, lawyers are no more than blood suckers and judges are not above suspicion either. People believe that powerful people are above laws. In India there is a growing tendency to take laws into one’s own hands. That’s why we witness a sharp rise in organized violence (in form of naxal and other extremist violence) and also more incidences of public justice. It was a rare opportunity for SC to give exemplary punishment to both the high profile lawyers. Such one sided and too little punishment will only strengthen apathy of common people on Indian judiciary. This verdict will only enforce the notion that “India has too many laws but no justice”.
what is not understandable that the supreme court convicted the defense counsel but set the prosecution counsel free who is more guilty as he let the prosecution witness be manipulated by the defence counsel.if prosecution counsel despite failing in his duty to protect prosecution witness,behavior can be let off free than the defense counsel behavior by the same standards must be inappropriate and set off free.supreme court must and should have reprimanded senior counsel for inappropriate behavior and for setting wrong standards for younger members of the bar and set both free /in the alternate both should have been sentenced to send right message to bar and the public
Inadequate punishment - debarred from appearing in courts for four months and fined Rs 2,000 each.Fine for them should be atleast his 1 yrs earnings
this might open doors for more cases of trial by media and the veracity of such methods is questionable
The same lawyer represent the congress party in all its true colour.What type of governance can be expected from them.
I fail to understand how the defense lawyer is more at fault than the prosecution lawyer when both were convicted under the same charges (ie .twisting the witness in favour of the accused }
What about Nanda? Will justice be done in his case? He gets to walk free after a mere 2 years despite killing 6 people! The learned Judges of Supreme Court should also look into this.
I failed to understand why we India have courts? When rich and mighty are easily going scott-free after committing crime or in mostly cases they awarded almost half of sentence under public pressure. Its better we should tell the world openly that our courts belongs to poor and middle class population because they cannot pay us bribe.