Stars, mediamen, alleged Maoists: HC heard them all online By Sunanda Parmeshwar
The Bombay High Court and lowercourts across Maharashtra stepped into the mostly unchartedwaters of virtual hearing during the year as the coronaviruspandemic forced the state into lockdown.
After actor Sushant Singh Rajputs death shocked thecountry in June, there was a flurry of litigation related tothe case. Actor Kangana Ranaut also found herself at thecourts doorstep when the Mumbai municipal body demolishedillegal construction at her Bandra bungalow.
The lockdown led to someimportant criminal cases suchas the September 2008 Malegaon blasts and Sheena Bora murdergetting stuck, as examination and cross-examination ofwitnesses posed a difficulty due to movement restrictions.
In April, a few benches of the high court in Mumbaistarted hearing urgent matters through video conference.Thefacility was also made available at the benches at Aurangabad,Nagpur and Goa and in subordinate courts all over the state.
Justice Dipankar Datta of the Calcutta High Court tookover as new Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court towards theend of April. Amid lockdown, he chose to drive from Kolkata toMumbai with his son, covering the distance of 2,000 km inthree days.
The high court functioned through the annual summervacation. The number ofbenches hearing matters virtually wasgradually increased and by October all the benches were backin action.
In November, the high court decided to resume physicalhearings. But as a few lawyers associations demurred, ChiefJustice Datta said the high court would conduct virtualhearings once a week and physical hearings on other days.Thissystem is to be in operation till January 10, 2021.
In April, the high court passed a directive that allinterim orders passed in civil and criminal cases shallcontinue till further decision as litigants could not travelto courts. The directive has been extended till January 2021.
In September, when all hearings were being conductedvirtually, the high court came to the rescue of Kangana Ranautby staying the demolition of her office-cum-bungalow in PaliHill area, initiated by the Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation. The court held that the action was illegal andsmacked of malice.
Ranauts legal troubles, however, continued with amagistrates court ordering police to lodge a FirstInformation Report against her and her sister Rangoli Chandelfor alleged offences of sedition and trying to incite hatredand communal tension through Twitter posts.
They moved the high court, which in November grantedthem interim protection and asked them to appear before policeto record statements on January 8, 2021.
Lyricist Javed Akthar filed a defamation complaintagainst Ranaut over some of her statements. A magistratescourt on December 19 directed the Mumbai police to probe thecomplaint and file a report.
Actor Richa Chadha filed a defamation suit againstanother actor Payal Ghosh, who had accused filmmaker AnuragKashyap of sexual assault, for making false statements abouther. Ghosh apologised to her, following which Chadha withdrewthe suit.
Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami was arrestedby Alibaug police for alleged abetment to suicide of interiordesigner Anvay Naik in 2018.
He failed to get interim bail from the Bombay HighCourt but was granted relief by the Supreme Court after he hadspent a week in jail.
Goswami and his channel also moved the high courtseeking the quashing of a case registered by Mumbai policeover an alleged Television Rating Points (TRP) rigging racket.
Following Sushant Singh Rajputs death on June 14,2020,his girlfriend and actor Rhea Chakraborty was accused byhis family of abetting the suicide.
She, in turn, filed a complaint against Rajputssisters for allegedly forging a prescription to procure drugsfor anxiety for him. Rajputs sisters moved the high courtwhich granted them interim protection from arrest.
A petition was filed in the high court by some formerIPS officers and others seeking regulation of media coveragein cases such as Rajputs death which spawned many conspiracytheories.
The high court has reserved its order on the plea.
An offshoot of the probe into Rajputs death was thediscovery of evidence about allegeddrug use in Bollywood. TheNarcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in September arrested RheaChakraborty, her brother Showik and others for allegedlyprocuring narcotics.
While Rhea was granted bail by the high court inOctober, her brother managed to get bail only in December.
The NCB later arrested comedian Bharti Singh and herhusband Harsh Limbachiya for alleged consumption of drugs butboth were released on bail by a magistrates court.
In February, the high court granted bail to formermedia baron Peter Mukerjea, who along with former wife IndraniMukerjea is accused of being party to the conspiracy to killSheena Bora, her daughter from an earlier relationship.
Indrani Mukerjeais still behind bars.
Some of the accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist linkscase had to knock on the courts door for simple amenities injail such as winter clothing.
Stan Swamy, 82, suffering from Parkinsons disease,filed an application in the sessions court seeking a directionto jail authorities to provide him a straw and sipper.
Activist Gautam Navlakha, another accused, complainedthat his spectacles were stolen in jail and the authoritiesrefused to accept the new pair sent by his family.
The high court said these are humane considerationsand should not be denied. It suggested that a workshop shouldbe conducted for jail officials to sensitise them.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)