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ShareMumbai: Public prosecutor Ajay Mishar's ride in Raj Thackeray's car has triggered off a controversy, with lawyers saying such actions raise doubts about whether the state government is serious about prosecuting the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief in the 2008 riots case.
Mishar said Thackeray's lawyers requested the court to allow
the MNS chief to travel in the prosecutor's car to the police
station as a security measure. "The court allowed it, but asked me to accompany Raj in his car. So I travelled along with the investigating officer," Mishar said.
Questions have been raised about the public prosecutor's ride in Thackeray's Toyota Land Cruiser after a Kalyan court remanded the
leader in connection with a case of alleged assault on North Indians appearing for a railway recruitment examination on October 19
last year.
"In a sensitive matter, where the eyes of thepeople are set on
important aspect of the case, it is indeed unbecoming of a
prosecutor to sit in the car of the accused, to be transported
to the police station or court," noted lawyer Majeed Memon said. "Such acts raise undue suspicion with regard to the fairness of the prosecution and a possible collusion between the two rival sides."
"The prosecutor ought to have been careful to physically distance himself from the accused when he is expected to present the other side of the case," Memon said.
Another lawyer, Sushant Kunjuraman, said the conduct of a prosecutor should be that of an independent officer of the court. "It appears that laws are meant only for the poor, while those who have money and muscle power get away easily," he said.
On Monday, Thackeray was arrested in connection with the riot case after he surrendered before a local court, which released him on bail on the condition that he would not make provocative speeches.
Raj surrendered before the Kalyan court in keeping with a Bombay High Court directive on June 16, setting aside anticipatory bail granted to him by a lower court in the case last year.
