Lawyers say HC decision shall improve system

The legal fraternity said the HC's decision to punish two senior lawyers for trying to influence a witness in BMW hit-and-run case would improve the system.

The legal fraternity on Thusrday said the Delhi High Court's decision to punish two senior lawyers for trying to influence a witness in BMW hit-and-run case would improve the system.

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Senior advocate and the Supreme Court lawyer Kamini Jaiswal expressed hope that the administration of justice would improve with the conviction of two advocates in the BMW expose case.

"I am quite relieved that the High Court has taken a strict view in the matter and I hope that the system will improve with the verdict," Jaiswal said, reacting to the judgement.

The High Court debarred senior advocates -- RK Anand and IU Khan -- for four months from appearing in the Delhi High Court and other subordinate courts as punishment and imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 each after convicting them for obstructing administration of justice in the nine-year-old BMW hit-and-run case.

Both Anand and Khan were shown in a sting operation as colluding to influence witness Sunil Kulkarni in the hit-and-run case. The operation was carried out by NDTV on May 30 last year.

"This is utter despair because I am also a part of this system so I feel ashamed..." Jaiswal said about the incident.

On being asked about the quantum of punishment, she said, "No punishment is good enough...But what (can) you do."

Noted criminal lawyer KTS Tulsi, however, termed the sentence against both the convicted lawyers as "disproportionate".

"In a way, the sentence is much lighter than expected because there was blatant attempt at interference in administration of justice," he said, adding even for lighter misconduct people have been sent to jail for varying sentences.