Wednesday 6 September 2017

Judge Jyotsna Yagnik’s Legal Acrobatics In The Maya Kodnani Case - Part 2

The determination of criminal liability requires precise evaluation of testimonies and careful analysis of each piece of evidence. To conclude the guilt of an accused, there must be concrete evidence “beyond reasonable doubt”.  But one can hardly accuse Judge Yagnik of sticking to this maxim.
In the first part of this analysis of the 2002 case against Maya Kodnani (read here), I had questioned the one-sided approach of Judge Jyotsna Yagnik in handling her case, which ended in a conviction and a 28-year jail sentence. In this part, I am providing a few salient instances of how Yagnik, during the course of trial, drew adverse inferences against Kodnani that did not convince one of her neutrality.
Jyotsna Yagnik visiting Naroda Patia before giving her judgement in 2002 riot case
One such case is that of Siddiqbhai Allabax Mansuri (prosecution witness-236), who testified before the court that Kodnani came in a Maruti car. This witness says that Kodnani arrived at the scene of crime at 8.30 am or 9 am. As per his testimony, the mob started reciting slogans of 'Jai Shri Ram' after seeing Kodnani. He further says that he saw Kodnani speaking to the mob, and instructed her PA to take out weapons from the jeep and distribute them among the mob (Pages 644-45).
Yagnik herself acknowledges that in the statement of the SIT (the Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court of India to reinvestigate the 2002 crimes), there was no mention of slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram being chanted. But the same has been stated by the witness in his deposition before the court. In order to legitimise this testimony, which was critical for implicating Kodnani, Yagnik justified this contradiction in the testimony of the witness, claiming that the witness might not have mentioned this to the SIT, but that the slogans were likely to have been shouted since that was “the mental state or spirit of the day” (Para 7.13, Page 648).

Madhu Kishwar

Madhu Kishwar
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