Jayalalithaa to appear in person before trial court in connection with disproportionate assets case

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has asked Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to personally appear on October 20 before the trial court in Karnataka in connection with a disproportionate assets case against her.

A bench comprising Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Deepak Verma, however, left it to the trial court to decide her plea seeking her examination in the case in a separate building other than the regular court room in view of the threat to her life and related security considerations.

The presiding judge shall ensure that she is examined in the proper environment, the Supreme Court said.

The passed the order taking into account her plea that she was ready to appear before the concerned court in the case.

Earlier, the SC had said that Jayalalithaa's plea seeking exemption from personal appearance before the trial court was a tactic to delay proceedings. "We are on a broad principle. It is not necessary that the court should accept what all the accused says. Except to delay the whole proceedings in the court, we don't find anything in this application", the bench had said.

In the application, Jayalalithaa had sought order to exempt her from the personal appearance before a trial court in Karnataka in view of the threat perceptions to her. Jayalalithaa's counsel Harish Salve had argued that the trial court erroneously rejected her plea seeking exemption from the personal appearance.

Section 313(5) of CrPC grants liberty to an accused to answer the questions in writing without appearing personally before the court, Salve said.

It has become difficult for the applicant to appear before the trial court as she has become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and there were a definite security threat to her life, Salve had said.

The bench, however, said the Section 313 of the CrPC was a salutary provision intended to provide principle of natural justice and also allow the magistrate concerned to observe the demeanour of the accused.

The judges had said, it was willing to direct the trial court to provide her adequate security for her safety and record the statement in the case. The DA relates to the period between 1991 and 1996 during which Jayalalithaa is alleged to have accumulated the assets worth over 66 crore, disproportionate to her known sources of income.

However, Jayalalithaa claimed that the case was nothing but a political vendetta against her by the previous DMK government of the state. The case was transferred to Karnataka to ensure a fair and free trial.