The Devil’s Advocate?

Ram Jethmalani has decided to defend Manu Sharma, accused of murdering Jessica Lal. Manu Sharma  is is the son of one of the leading politicians in the state of Haryana, Venod Sharma, belonging to the Congress Party. Here is what happened on that fateful night

On April 29, 1999, leading socialite Bina Ramani organized a party at her restaurant, Tamarind Court Cafe, in the Qutub area of South Delhi – it was to be a farewell party for her husband Georges Mailhot who was going abroad for six months. Several youngsters and models were serving drinks at the ‘Once upon a time’ bar, including Jessica Lall and her friends Malini Ramani and Shyan Munshi.

At about 0200 hours when the party was almost over, Manu Sharma with his friends Amardeep Singh, Alok Khanna, Amit Jhingan and Vikas Yadav, allegedly entered the restaurant and demanded liquor from Jessica.

Since the bar was being closed, Jessica told Sharma that no more drinks would be served. After some altercation, Sharma lost his temper and fired his gun – once in the air and the second time at Jessica. The bullet struck her temple and she died on the spot.

Sharma fled from the restaurant with his friends in a car which was later found abandoned in a Delhi suburb. During an intense hunt for Sharma over a week, three of his friends were arrested, but Sharma himself went underground. His father, Venod Sharma was asked to step down as Congress Party Chief in the state.

After 6 years of trial all the accused were acquainted (Read the Wiki articles above for the detailed coverage of the case). After their acquittal doubts were raised about the fairness of trial and how this case was influenced by the high profile politicians and industrialists (all the accused happen to belong to the ‘august’ population of the Shinning India). The acquittal caused widespread outrage in India. The President, Abdul Kalam, and others were appealed to so that the case could be reopened, since it appeared to be a clear case of brazen misuse of power and influence by persons in high places. Even in the venal atmosphere of the criminal justice system in India where the art of buying/ intimidating/ cajoling witnesses and bribing investigating policemen is well known, the circumstances were deemed too shocking. On March 22, 2006, the Delhi High Court admitted an appeal by the police against the Jessica Lal murder acquittals, issuing bailable warrants against prime accused Manu Sharma and eight others and restraining them from leaving the country. In July-September 2006, the magazine Tehelka carried out a three month long sting operation against these three key witnesses, which was aired in a leading Hindi News channel, leading to increasing furore.

Jethmalani has recently decided to defend Manu Sharma in spite of outrage my his own family members. Mahesh Jethmalani, son of the legal eagle and no mean lawyer himself, has said the entire family is opposed to his defence of Manu Sharma, but his father won’t budge. But as a lawyer is he justified to defend someone whose  crime has been proven. The hefty fees can only afforded by those high profile accused but Ram Jethmalani has this reputation to take up cases that are HEAVELY biased towards the appeal.

 Jethmalani has defended the killers of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

He was also the defence lawyer of market scamsters like Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh.

He also fought, free of cost, the cases of the prime accused in the 2001 Parliament attack case Mohammed Afzal, Shaukat Hussain Guru and the Delhi University lecturer, S A R Geelani, who were awarded the death sentence.

He was also the defence lawyer of the Hinduja Brothers in the Bofors case.

But the big question is, is he justified in doing so? I would say why not!

A SMS poll by CNN-IBN indicated that 80% of responders approve his decision. Everyone has the right to be defended and if Manu Sharma is really guilty then Jethmalani is no almighty who is going to save him from the claws of punishment. No doubt he,because of his caliber and stature, might get them a reduction in punishment or in the worst case might get them acquainted but are the other lawyers so inept that they cannot argue effectively? Why is his personal decision a national concern? I think everyone has the right to express himself openly without worrying about what others say. But I am also wary of this feeling of mine, Jethmalani might be doing a gross insult to his profession if he has taken up the case for money or to satisfy his ego.

Everyone has the right to express himself and its upto the others to take as he/she feels like. Shivam has every right to publish nearly nude photographs of a mutilated body. Sagaro has every right to play the prank. I had argued about blogging and its freedom here.

And similarly people have to do Gandhigiri

Jessica Lal’s family is traumatised by Jethmalani’s decision as well. Friends and supporters of the murdered model, however, have decided to take the Gandhigiri route to persuade the lawyer, and plan to send him flowers and SMSes to dissuade him.

Via Rediff and CNN-IBN