Feb 15 2017 : The Times of India (Chennai)
Sasi, kin ordered to surrender before court without delay
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
|
The wrath of the Supreme Court over the auda cious manner in which Jayalalithaa, V K Sasikala, J Elavarasi and V N Sudhakaran amassed assets, could be gauged from the zero-time the apex court had given to the last three to surrender before the designated special court in Bengaluru.After restoring their conviction and four-year jail term awarded by the special court in September 2014, the bench on Tuesday directed Sasikala and the two others to surrender forthwith, knowing fully well that the trial happened at a court in Bengaluru, 350km from Chennai.
Given the logistics, the term `forthwith' could be assumed to mean a day or two, said a member of their legal team, adding that they also sought to obtain the Supreme Court's permission to extend the surrender time to four weeks on `health grounds'.Since she is a woman, senior citizen and having a lot of political and administrative responsibilities to discharge in Tamil Nadu, it is only fair that the apex court grant her a few weeks to surrender before the special court in Bengaluru, she said.
Senior lawyers, however, are a bit surprised by the absence of any window period for the accused to give themselves up before the trial court.“It is not unusual for trial courts to give at least a week or two to suspects who are being sentenced,“ a senior advocate told TOI. Referring to the September 27, 2014 verdict of the special court in Bengaluru, he said Jayalalithaa, despite being a sitting chief minister of a state, faced the ignominy of being taken to the nearby Parapana Agrahara jail straight from the court, without even a single day's reprieve.
“She had to abandon all her administrative duties towards the state, and ask a ministerial colleague to rush back to Chennai and assume charge so that no vacuum is created in the government,“ the lawyer recalled, faulting Jayalalithaa's team of lawyers for having failed to seek time to surrender.
Such opportunity has not arisen in the case of Sasikala and the other two this time, since the Supreme Court chose to be extremely harsh and send them into jail as quickly as possible.
Given the logistics, the term `forthwith' could be assumed to mean a day or two, said a member of their legal team, adding that they also sought to obtain the Supreme Court's permission to extend the surrender time to four weeks on `health grounds'.Since she is a woman, senior citizen and having a lot of political and administrative responsibilities to discharge in Tamil Nadu, it is only fair that the apex court grant her a few weeks to surrender before the special court in Bengaluru, she said.
Senior lawyers, however, are a bit surprised by the absence of any window period for the accused to give themselves up before the trial court.“It is not unusual for trial courts to give at least a week or two to suspects who are being sentenced,“ a senior advocate told TOI. Referring to the September 27, 2014 verdict of the special court in Bengaluru, he said Jayalalithaa, despite being a sitting chief minister of a state, faced the ignominy of being taken to the nearby Parapana Agrahara jail straight from the court, without even a single day's reprieve.
“She had to abandon all her administrative duties towards the state, and ask a ministerial colleague to rush back to Chennai and assume charge so that no vacuum is created in the government,“ the lawyer recalled, faulting Jayalalithaa's team of lawyers for having failed to seek time to surrender.
Such opportunity has not arisen in the case of Sasikala and the other two this time, since the Supreme Court chose to be extremely harsh and send them into jail as quickly as possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment