Two months for J Jayalalithaa advocates, not a single day for me: BV Acharya, Special Public Prosecutor

BENGALURU: BV Acharya, the Special Public Prosecutor in the Jayalalithaa case, has said he had expected the high court to confirm the judgment pronounced by the trial court, but “it has been reversed”. According to him, the appellant lawyers got all the time, while he could not argue even for a single day. “The appellant lawyers got two months time to put forward their case, while all that I got was just one day time to file written arguments. There was no oral argument by me at all,” the 81-year Acharya, who was Advocate General for Karnataka for five terms under different chief ministers and President’s rule, told ET.

Karnataka was not even a party to the case, he said, and added that the state was denied an opportunity to appoint a public prosecutor. “The state has been denied adequate opportunity to present its case. I will study the judgment, the grounds on which the trial court judgment was reversed etc., and give my opinion to the Karnataka government,” the Special Public Prosecutor said.

Chief minister Siddaramaiah is expected to discuss Acharya’s opinion with law minister TB Jayachandra and advocate-general Ravivarma Kumar and take a decision on challenging the HC judgment clearing Jayalalithaa of corruption charges.