Solicitor General Tushar Mehta urged the Court to hear the clip in the privacy of the judges’ chambers and requested the Court not to reproduce any content from the said clip in its subsequent orders.
The National Investigating Agency (NIA) Wednesday, told the Madras High Court that it has adequate evidence against Madurai based lawyer M Mohammed Abbas, who was arrested and charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for allegedly being part of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI).
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the NIA, denied the allegation of malafide made by Abbas, and told a bench of Justices M Sundar and R Sakthivel that if the Court hears the audio clip submitted by the probe agency, it will see the point the agency was trying to make.
Mehta also reiterated that the issue of malafide should be looked into by the Court only at a later stage and not at the stage of admissibility of a petition.
“Malafide allegation against an individual is understandable. But how can an accused allege malafide against an entire probe agency? The NIA is not naive,” Mehta said.
The Court was hearing a petition filed by Abbas seeking to quash the first information report (FIR) against him.
While the Court refrained from clarifying whether it will hear the audio clip before Friday, June 23, the next date of hearing, the Solicitor General urged the Court to hear the clip in the privacy of the judges’ chambers and said that the Court must not reproduce any content from the said clip in its subsequent orders.
Senior Advocate M Ajmal Khan, appearing for Abbas, said that if the Court decides to listen to the audio clip, it must do so in the presence of the lawyers of all the parties to the case.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Front_of_India
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India: Have evidence against Madurai lawyer arrested for PFI links
