Azam unhappy with law dept, says Sibal will handle his case
LUCKNOW: Senior cabinet minister Azam Khan is annoyed with the state law department over its “ineffective” defence of him in the Supreme Court over his alleged controversial comment on the Bulandshahr highway rape case.
Khan wrote an angry letter to the principal secretary, law, in which he said: “Now, the senior lawyer Kapil Sibal has agreed to contest my case, so you may please withdraw the government counsel MR Shamshad.”
The Supreme Court had expressed displeasure at the non-appearance of Azam Khan in the case.
The apex court had asked the CBI to serve a notice on him.
“The confidential department’s section-1 presented a letter pertaining to the case for my attention and it is obvious that the letter was not issued without your approval. I am surprised and upset over the two words that have been used in the letter. They are ‘effective representation’. I am not able to comprehend ‘effective representation’ for me in the case. The effective representation should have had happened already at your level. But it hasn’t. It seems that the UP government’s law department does not consider me part of the government. Or else why on September 29, the government advocates told the court that they were not authorised to say anything on my behalf,” wrote Khan.
Khan further wrote: “After damage to my personal dignity through the media, may I know what ‘effective representation’ the law department was going to give in my favour”.
He also said that whatever he had said related to the Bulandshahr highway gang rape was not said with any intention to cause any hurt or harm to the victims’ family.
He said that his only intention was to have a proper investigation done into some aspects of the case.