'Should Be Like Telling A Story To Us' : Supreme Court Guides Young Lawyer How To Argue Criminal Appeal; Grants Acquittal

Mehal Jain

1 Feb 2022 4:29 PM IST

"Always remember the facts like a fiction-writer. It should be like you are telling a story to us, the narrative should be also like that", Court advised the young lawyer.

Hearing a plea against conviction for murder and sentence of life imprisonment, the Supreme Court on Tuesday explained court-craft and the art of argumentation to a young lawyer appearing for the petitioners- providing guidance as regards the portions of the court record to rely on and the submissions to formulate- and finally, passing an order for acquittal.The Court even arranged for...

The Court even arranged for the petitioners' lawyer to be tutored by a Senior Advocate on how to argue a criminal appeal.

The bench of Justices D. Y. Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Vikram Nath was hearing two 2020 SLPs against a January, 2019 decision of the Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court on a criminal appeal by which the High Court upheld the July, 2008 judgment passed by the Sessions Judge, Badaun, whereby the SLP petitioners and certain others were convicted under Sections 148, 302/149 of IPC and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for two years under Section 148 of IPC and imprisonment for life under Sections 302/149 of IPC.

At the outset, when the advocate for the petitioners seemed to be fumbling with the submissions, Justice Surya Kant told him, "Always remember the facts like a fiction-writer. It should be like you are telling a story to us, the narrative should be also like that"

When the advocate sought to take the bench through the impugned judgment of the High Court, Justice Chandrachud observed, "When you are in a criminal appeal against conviction, you must state your case without the High Court judgment. When you read a judgment, there may be a tendency to say that 'okay, these are the reasons for which the High Court said what it did'. But that is what you have to overcome in the final hearing!…You don't want the judges to get in an affirmation state of mind. You want a completely unbiased and uninfluenced view of your matter…this is a matter of court craft, which you must remember even while arguing a first appeal before the High Court."

"Citing the judgment may have a serious problem", explained the bench.

When the advocate prayed for a pass-over, Justice Chandrachud told him, "Now you have the valuable judicial time of the Supreme Court, don't ask for passovers. We will go through this together."

The judge has been repeatedly urging advocates to not seek pass-overs, particularly in old criminal matters, as once the matters are rolled over, they might not come to be heard for a while, which then operates to the disadvantage of the parties.

Continuing, Justice Chandrachud told the advocate to take the bench through the facts and the evidence. "Tell us what are the facts, what is the nature of the evidence", said the judge.

When the advocate sought to heavily rely on the FIR, the judge explained, "You cannot argue on basis of the FIR. You only show the FIR to give us a flavour. But now you have to show us the crucial evidence."

When the advocate sought to read the statements of the prosecution witnesses, Justice Chandrachud told him, "You must formulate your points. What is it that you want to establish by reading the statement of PW 1? That way, we will have your submission in the back of our mind when we read it."

The bench guided him as regards how to advance arguments based on the record of the case, hinting at the discrepancies in the depositions of the prosecution witnesses, how they appeared to unravel in cross-examination, how the evidence of some crucial witnesses had come to be over-looked.

The bench then heard the advocate for the respondent-state. On the conclusion of the arguments on both sides, the bench proceeded to dictate its order acquitting the petitioners.

Also, Justice Chandrachud requested Senior Advocate Manoj Swarup, who was appearing before the bench in another matter, to have a chat with the lawyer in the evening on Tuesday on how to argue a criminal appeal.

Addressing Mr. Swarup, Justice Chandrachud said, "Mr. Manoj Swarup, you have to do this for the junior counsel. Please have a chat with him."

"In the evening after your work is done, please have a word with Mr. Manoj Swarup for about 15 minutes on arguing a criminal appeal", the judge told the advocate for the SLP petitioners.

"Now that you have got your acquittal, don't think it is all done. You have to talk to Mr. Swarup in the evening", insisted Justice Chandrachud.

"Or you may be in big difficulty next time", concurred the other members of the bench.

'Should Be Like Telling A Story To Us' : Supreme Court Guides Young Lawyer How To Argue Criminal Appeal; Grants Acquittal

Mehal Jain

"Always remember the facts like a fiction-writer. It should be like you are telling a story to us, the narrative should be also like that", Court advised the young lawyer.

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