Press Trust Of India / Mumbai Apr 16, 2009, 00:52 IST
The trial in the Mumbai terror attacks case could not begin on Wednesday as a special court in Mumbai revoked its order appointing advocate Anjali Waghmare to defend the lone surviving militant, Mohammed Amir Ajmal Kasab.
Judge ML Tahilyani directed that Waghmare will not represent Kasab as she had not disclosed to the court that she had already been appointed by Bombay High Court legal aid cell to appear for a witness in the same case who was allegedly injured by Kasab and his team on the day of attack at Cama Hospital.
This witness is seeking compensation from the government and had approached legal aid cell to help him find a lawyer.
“I feel you should have disclosed to the court that you had already been appointed by the legal aid cell to appear for the witness in this case,” the judge told Waghmare.
The court noted that there was enough opportunity for Waghmare to disclose to the court about the development as she was not appointed “abruptly”.
“I had meetings with lawyers and legal aid cell panel members including Waghmare who had shown interest to defend Kasab. Obviously, the interest of witness and accused will clash with each other. The order passed by the court is vitiated to some extent for non-disclosure of facts and there is no option but to revoke it immediately,” the judge said.
Anjali waghmare counsal for Pakistani terrorist Mohammad Akmal Kasab was removed by the special Judge ML Tahilyani holding the trial of Kasab owing to 'professional impropriety, in that while Advocate Anjali was already defending one of the witnesses in 26/11 Mumbai mayhem, she legally could not act as a defence counsal for Kasab.
Readers need to know 'why the lawyer was removed...?' as the title suggests she did something that was not right. The article does not shed any light on what should have been one of the key points.
Content Guide
