Lawyers clash, hearing turns acrimonious

Courtroom should not be reduced to the level of a ‘fish market’: SC

The Supreme Court hearing on half a dozen petitions for an independent probe into the death of Judge Loya on Monday turned ugly with heated exchanges between lawyers, prompting Justice D Y Chandrachud’s snub not to turn the court into a “fish market.”

The judge pulled up senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing the Bombay Lawyer’s Association, not to try to shout him down. The hearing by the Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra remained inconclusive and will be resumed on Friday. Justice AM Khanvilkar is the third judge on the Bench.

Dave also had a tiff with Pallav Sisodia, the lawyer of another petitioner, when he claimed that the PIL was filed in the Apex Court to sabotage petitions in the Bombay High Court.

Senior Advocate V Giri, who appeared for social activist Tehseen Poonawalla, backed Dave’s arguments while stressing that there were enough grounds for an independent inquiry into the circumstances around the CBI’s judge in Nagpur on December 1, 2014.

Both Dave and Giri sought to interrogate those who have given statements on Loya’s death to nail the lies.

Loya was presiding over a special CBI court in Mumbai to hear the encounter killing case of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in 2005. The Apex Court had transferred the case to Mumbai, in which BJP President Amit Shah was an accused as then minister of state for home in the Gujarat government.

Advocate Giri referred to contradictions in the medical records on discharge of judge Loya’s body from hospital. He said there were glaring discrepancies in records on date of admission of the deceased.

Giri also pointed out that instead of recording statements of those judges who were with Loya at the time of the incident, the State Intelligence Department had only obtained their statements and they were not even verified by the department.

In an exchange with advocate Dave, Justice Chandrachud said, “We had appeared as juniors in this court, but now the dialogue has degenerated so much that it has become oppressive.”

Dave shot back, “(Senior advocate Harish) Salve was appearing for Amit Shah and now is appearing for the Maharashtra Government. This is oppression.”

Meanwhile, a Mumbai lawyers’ body will file a plea in Supreme Court on Tuesday to cross-examine 11 people, including two judges, in connection with the Loya case.