The Hindu : New Delhi News : Verdict will improve system: lawyers

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Verdict will improve system: lawyers

New Delhi: The legal fraternity on Thursday said the Delhi High Court’s decision to punish two senior lawyers for trying to influence a witness in BMW hit-and-run case would improve the system.

The decision will have “salutary effect” on ensuring purity of the Bar, noted criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani said.

However, he cautioned that “care must now be taken that the actual accused who are on trial be not prejudiced by the conduct of their lawyer as there is no evidence that the accused involved their lawyer to do that (influence witness)”.

He said Bar should realise that Judges have seriously gone into the issue to enforce its ethical obligation and restrained themselves by not sending the erring senior advocates to jail.

“This is a very serious matter. I personally think that the Judges were kind to lawyers (Anand and Khan). The judgement of the High Court is welcomed and deserves to be complimented,” he said.

Senior advocate and Supreme Court lawyer Kamini Jaiswal expressed hope that the administration of justice would improve with the conviction of the two advocates.

“I am quite relieved that the High Court has taken a strict view in the matter and I hope that the system will improve with the verdict,” Ms. Jaiswal said.

On being asked about the quantum of punishment, she said, “No punishment is good enough...but what (can) you do.”

Noted criminal lawyer K T S Tulsi, however, termed the sentence against both the convicted lawyers as “disproportionate”.

“In a way, the sentence is much lighter than expected because there was blatant attempt at interference in administration of justice,” he said, adding even for lighter misconduct people have been sent to jail for varying sentences.

Lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi expressed satisfaction over the way the High Court took all aspects into consideration before reaching a final decision.

Welcoming the decision, advocate Prashant Bhushan suggested that the convicted advocates should be sent to jail. “In my opinion, it could have been even stronger. In fact, they should have been sent to jail because there was clear evidence,” he stated. -- PTI

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