The Hindu : New Delhi News : Kapil Sibal assails Sorabjee’s statement

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Wednesday, Aug 08, 2007
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New Delhi

Kapil Sibal assails Sorabjee’s statement

Special Correspondent

“Congress should stand by Sanjay Dutt family”

NEW DELHI: Union Minister for Science & Technology Kapil Sibal has questioned the former Attorney General, Soli Sorabjee’s criticism of his statement supporting actor Sanjay Dutt. Clarifying that his comments in support of the actor were made in his personal capacity and did not represent the Government’s view, Mr. Sibal said the Congress should stand by the Dutt family in its hour of crisis. Briefing mediapersons here, Mr. Sibal said he was “somewhat intrigued” by Mr. Sorabjee’s comment that no signal of any “celebrity justice delivery system” should go to the people because of the actor’s status and the support he is getting from some Congress leaders. Mr. Sorabjee made these comments in a television interview. Pondering aloud how his statement in support of Mr. Dutt would impact the justice system, Mr. Sibal then gave instances where Mr. Sorajbee as Attorney-General had chosen to keep quiet while in office when “celebrity leaders” were commenting on cases in court. In particular, he cited the Ayodhya case when the then Law Minister defended key players such as the former Union Ministers L. K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi; stating that it was a “political case.” Drawing attention to the Gujarat riots and the Zahira case, Mr. Sibal said: “What happened to the then Attorney General’s moral streak and sense of righteousness?” According to Mr. Sibal, the reason he went public with his view that the Congress should support the Dutt family was because of the contributions of Sanjay Dutt’s father Sunil Dutt. “Also, I have been Sanjay Dutt’s lawyer. Had I not said anything, then it would have been interpreted as me distancing myself from him.” As to why the Congress did not share his view that the party should stand with the family at this juncture, he said: “It has not said anything to the contrary.”

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