Abbas Kazmi moves high court, says the first additional principal judge should be punished.
For months he had appeared for Pakistani gunman Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving 26/11 terrorist put to trial, trying to get him justice. Now, advocate Abbas Kazmi himself seeks justice.
Kazmi filed a contempt petition in the Bombay high court against first additional principal judge ML Tahaliyani on Wednesday, saying that the judge had “lowered the dignity of the court” by removing him from the 26/11 trial.
The advocate, however, made it clear that he had no intention to delay the completion of the trial. He stated in his petition, “No part of this petition should be taken as a reflection of the merits or legality of the proceedings/conduct of the trial. No part of it should be taken advantage of by any accused person.”
Judge Tahaliyani has declared May 3 as the day of judgment.
Kazmi conducted a major part of the trial by examining 271 witnesses. However, things took a different turn in November 2009, when Kazmi refused to admit affidavits of witnesses submitted by the prosecution. The furious judge removed Kazmi for “non-cooperation” with the court.
“There is no case where a trial judge removes a defence advocate for making submissions/opposition on the prosecution’s application. The trial judge has no power to remove a defence lawyer and humiliate him in public,” Kazmi said in his petition to the high court.
He also pointed out that Kasab was not even consulted. “As if his wish did not even matter.”
Kazmi said in his petition that he was “hurt” by what transpired in court. “In the presence of the media and the general public, the petitioner as an officer of the court was humiliated, disgraced and ordered to leave the court immediately.”
Arguing that by removing him, the judge had “lowered the dignity of the court,” Kazmi said that Tahaliyani had committed contempt of his own court, and ought to be held guilty. He added that he was also humiliated by the prosecutor who called him a “terrorist lawyer.”
Kazmi said that he had written to the chief justice of the high court in December 2009 apprising him of the issue. He had also sought consent of the advocate general to move the contempt petition against the judge, but never got a response.
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