New Delhi: The right of an accused to lead defence evidence of his choice cannot be disputed but this cannot be exercised with a view to delay the trial, a special court hearing a coal block allocation scam case has said. The observation came while disposing of a petition filed by Jharkhand Ispat Pvt Ltd (JIPL) Director R S Rungta, seeking modification of December 23 last year order by which the court had dismissed his plea for summoning former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as defence witness in the case.
Special CBI judge Bharat Parashar noted in his order that Rungta's contention that the court had declined his request to bring on record the desired defence witnesses and documents to prove his innocence was "factually wrong". "In the aforesaid circumstances, the request made by way of the present application to modify the order dated December 23, 2015 is per-se not tenable. Similarly, the grounds for modifying order as spelled out in the application are also per-se not sustainable," the court said.
"Thus, while the right of accused to lead defence evidence of his choice cannot be disputed but as already discussed in detail in my order dated December 23, 2015, the said right cannot be exercised with a view to either delay the trial or to defeat the ends of justice. Such a prayer can always be refused by the court if it is found to be vexatious," it said.
The court said that record which was sought to be summoned by the accused was already permitted to be brought on record in its order passed last year. JIPL and its two directors, R S Rungta and R C Rungta, are facing trial in a case pertaining to allotment of North Dhadu coal block in Jharkhand to the firm allegedly on the basis of false and forged documents.
Comments
0 comment