The Supreme Courtroom on Wednesday revived prison proceedings in a trial courtroom towards Kerala MLA Antony Raju for alleged tampering of proof in a drug trafficking case reported in 1990.
The case towards the previous transport minister, a pacesetter of Janadhipathya Kerala Congress, which is an ally of the ruling Left Democratic Entrance (LDF), was quashed by the Kerala excessive courtroom in March final yr on technical grounds.
Raju was the junior lawyer for the accused, an Australian citizen recognized as Andrew Salvatore, who was arrested from the Thiruvananthapuram worldwide airport with 61.5 grams of narcotics and the prosecution produced an underwear as a part of the proof towards him saying the contraband was smuggled in that. He was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.
Nonetheless, the excessive courtroom acquitted him in 1993 after his counsel proved that the underwear didn’t match the accused.
A police probe later confirmed that Raju, who was a junior lawyer within the case, obtained the underwear from the trial courtroom and returned it 4 months later after making some alterations to it, earlier than the accused moved the excessive courtroom.
Following this, a district courtroom had ordered a case to be registered towards Raju and courtroom clerk, Okay Jose, who was in-charge of protecting custody of the proof.
Raju challenged the case towards him earlier than the Kerala excessive courtroom which allowed his enchantment in March final yr. The excessive courtroom, nonetheless, clarified that its order is not going to restrain the state to provoke recent proceedings towards Raju.
Coping with an enchantment filed by journalist MR Ajayan difficult the quashing of the case towards Raju, bench of justices CT Ravikumar and Sanjay Karol mentioned, “The alleged act is a evident prevalence the place the method of prison prosecution stands interfered with, impugning upon the sanctity of judicial proceedings, leading to a travesty of justice.”
The courtroom restored the order of the judicial Justice of the Peace of Nedumangad in Thiruvananthapuram taking cognizance of the chargesheet towards Raju and directed him to look earlier than the trial courtroom on December 20. Because the case has remained pending earlier than the courtroom for practically three a long time, the trial was directed to be accomplished inside one yr.
Taking severe exception to the allegations towards Raju of altering the proof in collusion with the courtroom official, the bench mentioned, “Such actions not solely erode public belief within the judicial system however compromise the rules of the rule of legislation and equity, that are important for the justice supply system.”
The courtroom famous the “peculiar” circumstances of the current case the place the proof was taken out of judicial custody by the accused with out acquiring any order of launch from the courtroom and thereafter tinkering with the identical earlier than substituting it with the unique proof.
Following the courtroom order, Raju mentioned, “I’m assured that I’ll have the ultimate victory. Many anticipated the SC to order a CBI inquiry into this case. That has not occurred. Regulation will take its personal course.”
