Gangrape accused' lawyer warned over failure to appear

A lawyer representing one of the accused in the December 16 gangrape case was today warned for his repeated failure to appear in the proceedings by a special court which said had it not been this case an "adverse order" would have been passed against him.
"I am not passing an adverse order. Had it been other case then I would have done it," Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna said pointing to advocate M L Sharma, who is defending accused Mukesh.
Mukesh opted Sharma to defend him in the case on March 20, replacing advocate V K Anand, who was representing him and his brother accused Ram Singh.

"He (Sharma) must understand. It cannot go on like this," the judge said, adding that due to something or other the prosecution witnesses are called and discharged without being cross-examined on his behalf.
"Prosecution witness (PW-65) cross examined on behalf of accused Akshay. However, Sharma has not appeared as yet. It is to be noted that PW-65 was examined in chief on March 28 when his cross examination was deferred as Sharma was not present, as he was in hospital having low blood pressure.
"None of his associates..., who signed the vakalatnama on March 19, was present either on that day. Though the court could have dispensed with the cross examination of PW-65 on that day itself due to unexplained absence of Sharma, but in interest of justice one more opportunity was granted," the judge said in his four-page order today.

Mukesh is accused of involved in the gang rape of a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus here. The victim was also assaulted by five others, on the December 16 night last year. Later, the girl had succumbed to her injuries in a Singapore hospital on December 29.