While judge of the designated TADA court PD Kode was widely appreciated for his ‘unbiased’ judgment, the opinions of the legal eagles in the city remained divided.
While judge of the designated TADA court PD Kode was widely appreciated for his ‘unbiased’ judgment, the opinions of the legal eagles in the city remained divided over the six-year jail sentence handed out to Sanjay Dutt.
“The verdict by the trial judge has sent a strong signal to the people not just in the country but all over, that the Indian judicial system cannot be influenced or pressured by show of strength, sympathy, admiration and such other extra-legal considerations”, said leading criminal lawyer Majeed Memon. State advocate general Ravi Kadam said, “It is an impartial judgment. The judge has shown neither leniency nor excessive severity in handing out the sentence to Dutt”.
Senior counsel Niteen Pradhan however begged to differ, “I’m not happy. When he was not found guilty under TADA, why should he be handed out such a harsh sentence? He had a good case on merits” he said. He however said that he will have to go over the TADA court’s judgment to know why he was denied probation. Senior criminal lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani refused to comment on the sentence given to Dutt since he was formerly his client.
He however said, “the idea of probation in Sanjay’s case was totally misconceived”. Senior advocate Shyam Keswani however felt that Dutt in no way was bearing the brunt of being a public figure. “If the judge thought his case was not fit for probation, he was probably right”, Keswani said.
“If after being acquitted in TADA charges he was let off on probation too, it would have created a havoc”, Keswani added. “The offence was serious and it was deadly weapon. It would have not qualified to avail probation,” Memon said. “Probation is not being granted even in accident cases, this offence is of a much more serious nature”, Kadam said.
The legal voices however echo each other in saying that Dutt should rush to the apex court in appeal. The law has given him the liberty to go in appeal and he must make full use of it. “He should be able to get bail in the Supreme Court since he has not committed any breach for all these years while he was out on bail”, Memon said.
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