PUNE: The Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Mr. Y.V. Chandrachud said that the highest court in the land had erred in upholding the conviction of Kehar Singh in the Indira Gandhi assassination conspiracy case.
Mr. Chandrachud categorically stated that no motives should be attributed to the concerned judges. But he felt, the pieces of evidence which had come up before the court were not adequate for passing the death penalty against Kehar Singh. In a criminal case, the evidence must leave no room for doubt about the complicity of the accused and this was not so in Kehar Singh’s case, he said. The former Chief Jus tice remarked that the judges were perhaps carried away by the evidence that was placed before them. But, after all, judges were also human beings, he said, adding, “I too have delivered some wrong verdicts during my tenure, although their number was low.”
Mr. Chandrachud’s observations came during a question answer session with the audience after noted journalist Khush want Singh delivered a lecture on “Punjab: Past, Pre sent and Future.” The questioner had sought Mr. Singh’s opinion on whether presidential intervention in Kehar Singh’s case would not have helped consolidating the HinduSikh unity. Though the question was asked to Mr. Singh, he re directed it to Mr. Chandrachud by saying.” I think, Mr, Chandrachud is a better person to answer this.” For a moment, Mr. Chandrachud was taken aback but answered it all the same after saying, “I hope I won’t be hauled up for passing a comment.”
Article extracted from this publication >> October 20, 1989
