Mobilenews24x7 Bureau
Just eight days have passed when Rahul Gandhi was convicted in Modi Surname case and was awarded a sentence for two years jail term which subsequently got a remission to 30 days for further appeal. It was by a court in Surat.
Now, Rahul has got a summon from a court in Bihar to stand for trial of the same case and required personal appearance.
The development has abandoned a shock in the legal circle as how a person already tried and convicted in a case is again has to be tried by another court in another state !
Is it legally tenable? Law speaks otherwise that it is a violation of ones fundamental rights in person and right to dignity.
Quoting a legal luminary like Justice Nandarajog reports have appeared “If he has already been convicted once for an offence, the second court cannot exercise its discretion to try him again.”
Instances in the past show that, if there had been several such petitions against one person on one case, then the courts have the only discretion to club all the pleas and listen them but he or she cannot be tried twice if different courts once one court has already passed a verdict and awarded sentence.
It had happened in the case of a National TV Channel Edidor-in-Chief when several pleas were filed in different states but that was left to the process of clubbing all and court trial.Same was the precedence in the case of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in relation to some news broadcasting.
“Prosecuting a person for the same offence in same series of facts, for which he has previously either been acquitted or has been convicted and undergone the punishment, affects the person’s right to live with dignity. Thus, the concept of double jeopardy can also be understood in terms of Article 21 of the Constitution of India” Justice Nandarajog
But first, for FIRs to be clubbed and heard together, the accused has to file a petition seeking the same. This relief can only be sought in the Supreme Court, since high courts do not have the power to order transfer of a criminal case from one state to another.
