Law officer misled court: HC

A senior law officer of the Haryana government has come under fire for "misleading" the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) during the hearing of a bail petition filed by an accused in a case pertaining to a controversial transaction of land owned by Yoga guru, Dhirendra Brahmachari's Aparna Ashram Society in Gurgaon.

- Hitender Rao

CHANDIGARH:

The accused, Subhash Chander Dutt, had petitioned the HC seeking regular bail or alternatively an interim bail on medical grounds. Dutt passed away at PGIMER, Chandigarh on January 31.

The HC bench of Justice Manjari Nehru Kaul, however, took a stern view of the "misleading submissions" made by Haryana additional advocate general (AAG) Deepak Sabharwal, the state's counsel in the case.

Taking note of "the disturbing sequence of events" that unfolded in the present case, the judge said that the court was misled by the state counsel into believing that a false affidavit had been filed in support of a second bail application under section 483 of Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita before the trial court at Gurugram.

Justice Kaul in a January 31 order said that as a direct consequence of these misleading submissions, this court was compelled to summon the trial court record and examine allegations of professional misconduct by an advocate as well as potential judicial impropriety despite strong objections by both the petitioner's counsel and daughter in the court.

'DLSA letter advising filing of bail plea withheld from court'

Counsel for the petitioner, however, contended that the state intentionally raised the issue of a second bail application to create hurdles in the way of the grant of interim bail.