Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam member of Parliament and Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi has finally been arrested. After a Delhi court denied her bail in the 2G spectrum scam, even as her legal team was working frantically fervently to get her out, rediff.com spoke to noted defense lawyers about options available to her.
While they agree the only way forward for Kanimozhi now is to appeal in the higher courts, their views on the dismissal of the bail plea itself differs. Senior advocate KTS Tulsi finds the development rather unfortunate.
He says there was a disconnect in the Central Bureau of Investigation's behaviour before and after the filing of the chargesheet, "They did not arrest the accused when the statements were being recorded initially. But they did after the chargesheet was filed.
How the situation altered so drastically is beyond my comprehension," he added.
"The bail plea's dismissal is contrary to all the established norms. Generally, it is denied if authorities suspect that the accused is trying to flee. It seems the law has been misconstrued, and the bail was denied as a way of punishment."
Senior advocate Kamini Jaiswal, however, says the move is a good signal and sends a positive message to the common man.
"It is not like there not have been allegations before or the ministers have not been corrupt. But it is for the first time that a minister is going to jail for that. Things went too fast. There were one scam after the other, and it was high time that someone went to jail."
She added that the case has given more credibility to the CBI.
Commenting on Kanimozhi's plea that she was ignorant about what was going on in the company, Jaiswal said, "Ignorance is no plea. How can she be not aware of what was going on in the company? After all, she reaped all the benefits that the company had to offer." According to Jaiswal, Kanimozhi's chances in the high court will not be too bright.
Jaiswal refused to comment on the strength of the case and its impact on the bail plea, saying that the investigations were at a crucial stage.
Tulsi maintained that the strength of the case should have nothing to do with the granting or denying of bail.
