New Delhi: The virtual court hearing through video-conferencing has its own pitfalls. A lady lawyer was caught unaware whatever she was telling her client about the hearing was also heard by judges, before whom she had unsuccessfully argued the case. Soon after the hearing was over, she was heard telling her client: “Nahi maana court ne. Waqt achcha nahi hota, sunte nahi hai (The court did not accept. When time is not good, they don’t hear).”
Unaware the mic was on and all she told her client was being heard by the bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra. He promptly said, “Madam Aisa Nahi Hai. Hum Sunte Hain (Madam it’s not that, we do hear).”
Other judges on the bench were Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Indira Banerjee. The matter involving the petitioner verses State of Punjab relates to some act of impersonation by the petitioner as lawyer was heard telling the court, “I have not impersonated. What's the role assigned to me? Allegation against me is that I visited once. When agreement took place, I was not there.”
SC seeks Navlakha’s reply on NIA plea
New Delhi: On a petition of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) challenging a Delhi HC urt order on May 27, the SC on Tuesday sought response from Delhi-based civil rights activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha and posted further hearing after 2 weeks.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, SA Nazeer and Indira Banerjee issued notice to Navlakha, who was taken to Mumbai from Delhi's Tihar Jail by the NIA to produce him in a special court in Mumbai in the case of violence at Bhima Koregaon off Pune on January 1, 2018. He is presently lodged in judicial lockup in Mumbai.
On May 27, Delhi HC pulled up the NIA for its “unseemly haste” in taking away Navlakha to Mumbai when his interim bail plea was pending in Delhi. Appearing for the NIA, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told SC the HC’s order to produce the records of the trial court in Pune/Mumbai was “patently without jurisdiction.” Navlakha is among five rights activists accused of allegedly inciting violence at Bhima Koregaon village in Pune and also charged with the secret Maoist conspiracy hatched to kill PM Modi.
SC may not go back to court hearing
Notwithstanding the Bar Council of India earlier and the association of the advocates-on-record on Tuesday pressing for open court hearing from July 6 after the curtailed summer vacations, there are doubts whether the top court will go back to its normal functioning in the coming months.
An indication of this effect came from Justice Indu Malhotra during a hearing on Tuesday when she said: “It’s about life at this time ... can’t say anything about physical hearings in July.”
She was responding to senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi telling the bench “hopefully we will meet you soon when physical courts open in July.” Justice Malhotra was a part of the bench headed by Justice Mrs R Banumathi, and also comprising Justice Aniruddha Bose. The discussion veered around the possibility of top court resuming its normal open court hearing from July 6 after Rohatgi said: “I’m well since we lawyers are staying inside. Your lordships are going to court. I suggest your lordships should be careful while walking out to courtrooms.”
Plea to rename country put off
New Delhi: SC adjourned to Wednesday a plea to change the name of the country as “Bharat” by replacing the word “India” in the Constitution with “Bharat” to “instil a sense of pride in our nationality”. It is the second time the case was adjourned without hearing as it was deferred to Tuesday on last Friday as CJI Sharad Bobde skipped the day’s hearings. A brief notice of the registry said the matters shown before the virtual court No 1 comprising the CJI and Justices AS Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy on June 2 will now be listed on June 3. “Stop using INDIA. It will ensure citizens get over the colonial past and instil a sense of pride in our nationality. It will justify the hard-fought freedom by our freedom fighters,” says the PIL. —Our Bureau
