Always remember the facts like a fiction writer. It should be like you are telling a story to us, the narrative should be also like that", Court advised the young lawyer.
Hearing a plea against conviction for murder
and sentence of life imprisonment, the Supreme Court on Tuesday explained
court-craft and the art of argumentation to a young lawyer appearing for the
petitioners- providing guidance as regards the portions of the court record to
rely on and the submissions to formulate- and finally, passing an order for
acquittal. The Court even arranged for the petitioners' lawyer to be tutored by
a Senior Advocate on how to argue a criminal appeal.
The bench of Justices D. Y. Chandrachud, Surya
Kant and Vikram Nath was hearing two 2020 SLPs against a January, 2019 decision
of the Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court on a criminal appeal by which
the High Court upheld the July, 2008 judgment passed by the Sessions Judge,
Badaun, whereby the SLP petitioners and certain others were convicted
under Sections 148, 302/149 of IPC and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for
two years under Section 148 of IPC and imprisonment for life under Sections
302/149 of IPC.
At the outset, when the advocate for the petitioners
seemed to be fumbling with the submissions, Justice Surya Kant told him,
"Always remember the facts like a fiction-writer. It should be like you
are telling a story to us, the narrative should be also like that"
When the advocate sought to take the bench
through the impugned judgment of the High Court, Justice Chandrachud observed,
"When you are in a criminal appeal against conviction, you must state your
case without the High Court judgment. When you read a judgment, there
may be a tendency to say that 'okay, these are the reasons for which the
High Court said what it did'. But that is what you have to overcome in the
final hearing! You don't want the judges to get in an affirmation state
of mind. You want a completely unbiased and uninfluenced view of your
matter…this is a matter of court craft, which you must remember even
while arguing a first appeal before the High Court."
When
the advocate prayed for a pass-over, Justice Chandrachud told him, "Now
you have the valuable judicial time of the Supreme Court, don't ask for
Passovers. We will go through this together."
The
judge has been repeatedly urging advocates to not seek pass-overs, particularly
in old criminal matters, as once the matters are rolled over, they might
not come to be heard for a while, which then operates to the disadvantage of
the parties.
Continuing,
Justice Chandrachud told the advocate to take the bench through the facts and
the evidence. "Tell us what are the facts, what is the nature of
the evidence", said the judge.
When
the advocate sought to heavily rely on the FIR, the judge explained, "You
cannot argue on basis of the FIR. You only show the FIR to give us a
flavour. But now you have to show us the crucial evidence."
When
the advocate sought to read the statements of the prosecution witnesses,
Justice Chandrachud told him, "You must formulate your points. What is it
that you want to establish by reading the statement of PW 1? That way, we will
have your submission in the back of our mind when we read it."
The
bench guided him as regards how to advance arguments based on the record of the
case, hinting at the discrepancies in the depositions of the prosecution
witnesses, how they appeared to unravel in cross-examination, how the evidence
of some crucial witnesses had come to be over-looked.
The
bench then heard the advocate for the respondent-state. On the conclusion of
the arguments on both sides, the bench proceeded to dictate its order acquitting
the petitioners.
Also,
Justice Chandrachud requested Senior Advocate Manoj Swarup, who was
appearing before the bench in another matter, to have a chat with the lawyer in
the evening on Tuesday on how to argue a criminal appeal. Addressing Mr.
Swarup, Justice Chandrachud said,
"Mr.
Manoj Swarup, you have to do this for the junior counsel. Please have a chat
with him."
"In
the evening after your work is done, please have a word with Mr. Manoj Swarup
for about 15 minutes on arguing a criminal appeal", the judge told the
advocate for the SLP petitioners.
"Now that you have got your acquittal,
don't think it is all done. You have to talk to Mr. Swarup in the
evening", insisted Justice Chandrachud.
"Or
you may be in big difficulty next time", concurred the other members of
the bench.
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