New Plea/Arguments in Appeal in Criminal Conviction Cases
In the appeals filed against the conviction by Trial Court the accused is required to specifically mention the major grounds on the basis of which the appeal has been filed for setting aside the conviction. However it is my observation that in most of the appeals (his lawyer) writes a paragraph “Rest of the grounds shall be given at the time of arguments”. Then under the garb of this “rest of the grounds…..” the advocates keep on introducing n number of irrelevant, inapplicable and vague grounds which were neither the subject matter of defence/arguments/plea/cross examination/discussion during the trial. This may not help them in a legal manner, but sometimes this might help them as the Judge being a human may get so much bogged down & exhausted with the irrelevant that he may not be left over with the energy required for a proper application of mind to the relevant!
Learned members are requested to kindly give their opinion on
1.Is there any weapon with the Court /Law which can prohibit such irrelevant intrusion upon Court’s time?
2.In an appeal, Can the Court entertain new plea/arguments/points/defence which were not raised during the trial?
