A Delhi court has cautioned that any “eager, animated or inflexible” assertions made by advocates should not be allowed to prejudice an accused, while rebuking the conduct of a defence lawyer in the alleged land-for-jobs scam involving former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Special Judge Vishal Gogne, who is hearing arguments on charges against 103 accused persons, criticised the “contrived manner” in which counsel for Accused No. 20 (A-20), a school principal, moved an application seeking to have a 2022 letter treated as a confessional statement and disregarded by the court.
The application, filed on Thursday, urged that the letter dated June 27, 2022, sent by the accused to the investigating officer, be deemed inadmissible. The court said the plea was essentially an argument on the admissibility of a document and appeared to be “a conscious ploy to seek a truncated and piecemeal as well as premature finding” before arguments on charges were completed for all accused.
“The heightened insistence of the counsel is perceived by the court as a disguise for delay,” Judge Gogne observed, adding that the CBI had not cited the letter as a confession or disclosure statement.
The judge made it clear that no evaluation of a document’s tenor or admissibility can be done before an order on charge. “Being conscious that any eager, animated or inflexible assertion of the counsel ought not to prejudice the accused, the court would refrain from making further observations regarding the contrived manner in which the application has been moved so as to avoid arguments on charges on other aspects,” the order stated.
Granting a final opportunity, the court directed the accused school principal to advance arguments on August 11.
According to the prosecution, the case relates to Group-D appointments in the West Central Zone of the Railways, Jabalpur, between 2004 and 2009, allegedly made in exchange for land parcels transferred to the family or associates of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief.
