TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2010 (12) TMI 1146
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....granted. 2. Heard learned counsel for the parties. 3. This appeal has been filed against the impugned judgment and order of the High Court of Madras dated 29-4-2008 passed in Writ Petition No. 716 of 2007. 4. The facts have been set out in the impugned judgment and order and hence we are not repeating the same here. 5. The High Court had appointed a Commission of Enquiry headed by Hon'ble Mr. Justice K.P. Sivasubramaniam, a retired Judge of the High Court of Madras which is on record. 6. During the course of the proceedings today, we had requested Mr. Altaf Ahmad, learned senior counsel, to assist us as Amicus Curiae in this case and we are grateful to Mr. Altaf Ahmad and we appreciate his assistance to us in t....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....order accordingly. 14. Before parting with this case, we would like to comment upon a matter of great legal and constitutional importance which has caused us deep distress in this case. It appears that the Bar Association of Coimbatore passed a resolution that no member of the Coimbatore Bar will defend the accused policemen in the criminal case against them in this case. 15. Several Bar Association all over India, whether High Court Bar Associations or District Court Bar Associations have passed resolutions that they will not defend a particular person or persons in a particular criminal case. Sometimes there are clashes between policemen and lawyers, and the Bar Association passes a resolution that no one will defend the polic....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....are at an end. If the advocate refuses to defend from what he may think of the charge or of the defence, he assumes the character of the Judge; nay he assumes it before the hour of the judgment; and in proportion to his rank and reputation puts the heavy influence of perhaps a mistaken opinion into the scale against the accused in whose favour the benevolent principles of English law make all assumptions, and which commands the very Judge to be his Counsel." 20. Indian lawyers have followed this great tradition. The revolutionaries in Bengal during British rule were defended by our lawyers, the Indian communists were defended in the Meerut conspiracy case, Razakars of Hyderabad were defended by our lawyers, Sheikh Abdulah and his co-a....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....rguing that they were effectively denied aid of counsel because they did not have the opportunity to consult with their lawyer and prepare a defense. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed. Writing for the court, Mr. Justice George Sutherland explained: "It is hardly necessary to say that the right to counsel being conceded, a defendant should be afforded a fair opportunity to secure counsel of his own choice. Not only was thai not done here, but such designation of counsel as was attempted was either so indefinite or so close upon the trial as to amount to a denial of effective and substantial aid.....' 24. In the same decision Justice Sutherland observed : "What, then, does a hearing include? Historically and in practice, in our own countr....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....merican lawyer Clarence Darrow (1857-1930) who was strongly of the view that every accused, no matter how wicked, loathsome, vile or repulsive he may be regarded by society has the right to be defended in court. Most lawyers in America refused to accept the briefs of such apparently wicked and loathsome persons, e.g. brutal killers, terrorists, etc. but Clarence Darrow would accept their briefs and defend them, because he was firmly of the view that every persons has the right to be defended in court, and correspondingly it was the duty of the lawyer to defend. His defences in various trials of such vicious, repulsive and loathsome persons became historical, and made him known in America as the 'Attorney for the Damned', (because he took up....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ged because the jury was racist and biased), since he believed that everyone has a right to be defended. This novel inspired many young Americans to take up law as a profession in America. 29. The following words of Atticus Finch will ring throughout in history : "Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It is knowing you are licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do." 30. In our own country, Article 22(1) of the Constitution states : "No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for which arrest nor shall he be denied the right to consult, and to be defended by, a legal practi....