[HaroTaure]

Putting an end to all speculation and further tightening the net around DMK MP Kanimozhi and seven other accused in the 2G spectrum scam case, a Delhi court dismissed their bail pleas on Thursday, saying the charges against them were of a “grave nature”.

Rejecting the stand of the CBI, which had not opposed the bail pleas of five of the accused, including Ms Kanimozhi, the court said while the prosecution’s “no objection” might carry some weight, “but where the allegations levelled against the accused are of a grave nature”, such noobjection was “of no consequence in the eyes of the law”. Special CBI judge O.P. Saini ruled that the “bail plea is required to be decided strictly and solely as per the law and facts and circumstances of the case”.

The CBI’s stand had raised the hopes of some of the accused that they might get bail after the framing of charges. The CBI had not opposed the bail pleas of Ms Kanimozhi, Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar, Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables directors Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal and Bollywood filmmaker Karim Morani.

The court also rejected the plea by Ms Kaninmozhi’s counsel for bail as she was a woman under section 437 CrPC. The judge said Ms Kanimozhi “belongs to the upper echelon of society, and is also a member of Parliament.
By no stretch of imagination can she be said to be suffering from discrimination on the ground of being a woman.“
The denial of bail to Kanimozhi was termed a “serious miscarriage of justice“ by her counsel Ram Jethmalani who hoped that the Supreme Court would set it right.

“What the judge has done is a serious miscarriage of justice. I believe this judge seems to have decided that no relief should be given except by the Supreme Court itself.
He is not therefore wanting to do what is plainly right. I consider it grave, grave miscarriage of justice and a deliberate misapplication of law, I hope the Supreme Court will soon put this right,“ Jethmalani said.

The senior advocate said that bail can only be denied if a person is likely to abscond to tamper with evidence but “there is no such evidence at least in the case of this woman (Kanimozhi)“.

- dc chn