Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s legal team advised him to stay away from the “media circus” and avoid making any public statements that could create confusion and trigger public debate during the proceedings in the case related to his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s alleged suicide, his lawyer Vikas Pahwa has said. A Delhi court on Wednesday dropped all charges against Tharoor in the case.
Pahwa said Tharoor’s legal team requested the magistrate to keep the investigation papers confidential and not share them with anyone to avoid media trials. He said the media was running a “full-fledged media trial parallel to the investigation”. He said the media have the right to report the court proceedings, but not to analyse the evidence and pass judgement even before the trial begins. Pahwa said the media were doing a disservice to the justice system by generating adverse public opinion.
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The court said it found no material against Tharoor to establish that his actions led to Pushkar’s alleged suicide. Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel in New Delhi in January 2014.
Pahwa said the court’s order has strengthened their confidence in the criminal justice system wherein trial courts can exercise power to reject the flimsy charge sheets filed at the very inception of the trial.
{{/usCountry}}Pahwa said the court’s order has strengthened their confidence in the criminal justice system wherein trial courts can exercise power to reject the flimsy charge sheets filed at the very inception of the trial.
{{/usCountry}}Pahwa’s team of lawyers included Gaurav Gupta and Mohammad Ali Khan, who has been a part of the Congress’s legal team.