Apex court refuses to stay Anand & Khan's debarring

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay a Delhi high court order which had convicted noted criminal lawyers R K Anand and I U Khan for bribing a key witness in the BMW hit and run case. The senior advocates were debarred from appearing in the high court and its subordinate courts for four months for obstructing fair administration of the criminal justice system. A bench comprising Justice B N Agrawal and Justice G S Singhvi said the interim stay of the judgment barring the two advocates from practicing in the high court and subordinate courts cannot be granted. The bench observed that the matter was dealt in a lenient and liberal manner by the high court. The apex court, however, agreed to give an expeditious hearing of the appeals of Anand and Khan challenging high court order. Admitting the appeals, the court called for the case records from the high court and posted the matter for hearing before an appropriate bench on October 14. Senior advocates Rajeev Dhavan and P P Rao, appearing for Anand and Khan respectively assailed the judgement saying that the high court did not consider their applications and delivered the final judgement. “The high court has dealt with the matter quite leniently,” remarked the court during the hearing when Dhavan said that the high court had exceeded its jurisdiction and did not follow the due process of law by holding summary proceeding in the matter. However, the bench said, “Had it been a case of an ordinary person there would be a different yardstick but here it was a case of a member of the bar.” Dhavan said the matter involved a serious question on the admissibility and reliability of the evidence as the TV reporter, who had conducted the sting operation to expose the alleged collusion between the prosecution and the defence in the case, was not allowed to be cross-examined as there were contradictions on the number of chips used in the sting.

"Loved reading this piece by SANJAY DIXIT?
Join LAWyersClubIndia's network for daily News Updates, Judgment Summaries, Articles, Forum Threads, Online Law Courses, and MUCH MORE!!"

Join our Telegram group

Join our Whatsapp group