Don’t slander Shivani, court tells defence counsel

While convicting the IPS officer and three others, the court came down heavily on the defence for questioning Shivani Bhatnagar’s character to prove their case, reports Naziya Alvi.

While convicting the IPS officer and three others, the court came down heavily on the defence for questioning Shivani Bhatnagar’s character to prove their case.

HT Image

“None particularly the accused had any right to challenge her (Shivani’s) personal liberty. Perhaps it shows that we have still not come out of the illusion of male chauvinism. Why a lonely girl is taken as an easy prey?” Additional Session Judge Rajinder Kumar Shastri observed in his detailed order.

A defence lawyer had insinuated that Shivani’s conduct was guided by her ambition to spur her career at any cost. The Court termed such averments as highly depreciable and an egregious abuse of the privilege bestowed by law to an accused to defend his/her case. “I think such comments tend to debauch (sic) womanhood, such an errie plea taken by the Counsel is nothing but a pettifoggery played in the name of defending his client”, the judge decreed.

He also objected to the comments made by one of the counsels on the age gap between her and her spouse who happened to be a senior journalist. “I think it was a personal choice of the deceased as to whom to marry,” said the judge.