Trial and error

The mob has taken on the law once again,as Pune-based advocate Sushil Mancharkar announced his willingness to defend Himayat Mirza Baig,the prime accused in the German Bakery blast case. The BJP enacted a protest outside his home and tried to prevail on his family to stop him. The Shiv Sena tried a different tack,saying it was all very well to debate the constitutional rights of the accused,but prominent lawyers should not take up such heinous causes. The Senas youth wing was more forthright,promising to visit trouble upon Mancharkar if he went to court.

This is an all too familiar situation in India,where angry groups decide who is indefensible,and then pillory lawyers for daring to take on the case. A couple of years back,some lawyers groups rejected Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasabs case on similar grounds,and others demonstrated outside lawyer Anjali Waghmares house,trying to intimidate her into dropping the case. As Ram Jethmalani reminded the rest of us then,no lawyer has the right to refuse an accused fearing unpopularity among her peers,and the Bar Council of India explicitly says so. The idea of constitutional rights has been imperfectly internalised,if many of us think that the courts are a courtesy to those who deserve it,and others,guilty of heinous crimes should be left without legal representation. As a lawyer,it is Mancharkars prerogative and professional duty to defend Baig.

The right to legal defence is an integral part of the international covenant on civil and political rights. Trial without legal aid is patently unconstitutional. It might be inconvenient and even infuriating for some,but our commitment to the legal process even for those who seek to harm us is precisely what keeps the rule of law meaningful. Even in cases like Kasabs or Baigs,nobody but the court has the right to assign guilt,through legal procedure. In fact,having a professional defence is the way to ensure progress on the case,rather than allowing the accused to defend themselves unpredictably and reduce the event to theatrics. Either way,to declare them guilty by popular sentiment and then to coerce lawyers into not taking up their case is an insult to our liberal democracy.