Public prosecutor in Lal, Mattoo cases appointed Delhi High Court judge

Mukta Gupta, the Public Prosecutor at the Delhi High Court instrumental in securing conviction of Manu Sharma in the Jessica Lal murder case and Santosh Kumar Singh in the Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case will be sworn in as a judge of the Delhi High Court on Friday, reports Harish V Nair.

Mukta Gupta, the Public Prosecutor at the Delhi High Court instrumental in securing conviction of Manu Sharma in the Jessica Lal murder case and Santosh Kumar Singh in the Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case will be sworn in as a judge of the Delhi High Court on Friday.

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“The President is pleased to appoint Ms. Mukta Gupta, to be an Additional Judge of the Delhi High Court,” a press release from the Ministry of Law and Justice said on Thursday.

Delhi High Court Chief Justice A P Shah will administer the oath of office to 48-year-old Gupta at 10:30 AM on Friday

Born on June 28, 1961, Gupta graduated from Delhi's Hindu College in B.Sc (Zoology).

Gupta went on to study law at Delhi University, obtaining her LLB in 1983. She enrolled as an advocate the next year and was appointed standing counsel for Delhi Government and police in August 2000.

Ever since then, Gupta has been involved in a series of high-profile cases.

She represented the Delhi Police in 2001's Parliament shootout case.

Gupta was the CBI's counsel in the Navy War room leak case, in the Naina Lal Tandoor murder case, Red Fort attack case, and all cases under Prevention Of Terrorism Act, Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.

Most recently, she successfully defended the Delhi Police in a public interest litigation which termed the Batla house encounter in which two suspected terrorists involved in the September 13, 2008 blasts in the Capital were killed as “fake” and demanded a judicial enquiry.

With the appointment of Gupta the total number of judges in the Delhi High Court will rise to 45.