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Mann wanted corruption cases against Badal shifted,
High Court rules against it
WSN Network
Chandigarh: The Indian establishment knows pretty well whom to back
in any contest between its associate Sikh leaders and those who take
up panthic agendas, even if the issue involved is as secular as
corruption and loot of public money.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday dismissed the petition
of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann for
transfer of proceedings of criminal cases pending against Punjab
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his family members from the
court of Special Judge, Rupnagar, to any other court outside Punjab.
A
Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice
Mahesh Grover held that a perusal of the writ petition and documents
did not in any way enlighten the court about the apprehension of the
petitioner. In his petition, Mann, while mentioning that 23
witnesses had resiled from their statements, alleged that the
witnesses were being influenced as Badal had now become the Chief
Minister. The court did not say why it was not convinced.
Referring to Supreme Court judgments, the Bench observed that it is
true that "justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be
done with a free and fair trial being the foundation of the criminal
jurisprudence, but in the absence of the material which we have
pointed out merely because witnesses have somersaulted will not ipso
facto be an indicator of the fact that the trial is being
subverted.'' The Bench, however, added that if a witness resiles
from either the earlier testimony and the prosecution witness does
not declare him or her hostile and does cross-examine by resorting
to Section 154 of the Evidence Act, then great prejudice is caused
to the prosecution, culminating in miscarriage of justice.
Describing it as an exceptional case, the petitioner referred to the
statements of witnesses, mentioning that 23 of them stated that
their statements recorded by the Vigilance Bureau were under
pressure and threat.
The petition said one witness who turned hostile stated that he was
under pressure and could not earlier disclose these facts to the
magistrate as the officers of Vigilance Bureau and media adviser to
the former chief minister B.I.S. Chahal were standing outside the
court. "It's an exceptional case in which the VB should be asked to
file an application under Section 340 of CrPC for initiating
proceedings against witnesses," the petition said.
The Bench adjourned the hearing of the matter.
26
September, 2007
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Read Also
Official Website - Shiromani Akali Dal