Updates – Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court today acquitted former Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa of all charges in the disproportionate assets case.
Reportedly, Jayalalithaa will return to power immediately and will be announced the Tamil Nadu chief minister. Jayalalithaais likely to be sworn in on May 17 as CM. A whole lot of populist government schemes are scheduled to be announced without delay.
According to reports, the Judge took only 10 seconds to deliver the verdict. Jayalalithaa was not present in the high court today but her supporters who had gathered outside the High Court, celebrated outside the court and on the streets of Tamil Nadu, after the court accepted her lawyers’ arguments and set aside the trial court’s order.
Given that her successor O Panneerselvam is currently under attack from the opposition over poor governance, and that the Tamil Nadu assembly elections are scheduled for next year, a return to the gaddi has come as an enormous relief for Jayalalithaa and AIADMK.
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Bengaluru: At 11am today, the future of the kingpin of Tamil Nadu’s politics, will be decided.
There are three scenarios possible when Justice C R Kumaraswamy reads out the verdict in the criminal appeals filed by ex-chief minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa and her three associates.
Scenario one: Jayalalithaa earns a clean acquittal as the single judge overturns the 1,306-page judgment of special judge John Michael D’Cunha lock, stock and barrel. This is possible only if Justice Kumaraswamy is in full agreement with the explanations offered by Jayalalithaa’s legal team for her long list of assets, income and means by which they were accumulated.
Scenario Two: D’Cunha’s judgment survives scrutiny by Karnataka high court. This would mean demise of Jayalalithaa’s immediate political future and consequently that of the AIADMK as well. Confirmation of the trial court judgment would kick off the surrender formalities of Jayalalithaa and her three associates, and they must return to judicial custody within the timeframe laid down by the high court.
Scenario Three: Justice Kumaraswamy accepts some arguments from both sides, and then slashes the fine or/and reduces the sentence. In terms of political consequence, this order too would be as bad as the second possibility. Once a conviction happens under the Prevention of Corruption Act, a sentence of two years or four years hardly matters, as disqualification gets into play anyway. Unlike regular IPC offences which would need a sentence of at least two years or more for attracting disqualification, a mere conviction is enough under the Prevention of Corruption Act for a politician to be disqualified and then debarred for another six years from contesting polls.
The remaining three convicts, N Sasikalaa, J Elavarasi and V N Sudhagaran, however, might feel relieved to get a lesser sentence, especially with one more appeal provision available in the Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court has been seen to be tough in corruption cases in recent times.
Of the three, the first one is the only situation which would pave the way for Jayalaltihaa’s return to public life and occupy the constitutional office of chief minister again.
Jaya conviction timeline:
September, 1996 – FIR registered against Jayalalithaa and others.
December 7, 1996 – Jayalalithaa is arrested from her Poes Garden residence in Chennai.
April 17, 1997 – After obtaining HC’s concurrence, the state government constitutes 3 special courts in Chennai to hear 41 cases against them.
February 5, 1999 – The Centre issues notification abolishing the courts. Supreme Court quashes the order.
May 2001 – AIADMK wins the election and Jayalalithaa is sworn in chief minister of the state.
September 21, 2001 – She steps down as plea against her appointment is allowed by courts on the ground that she had been convicted in Tansi case by trial court. But 2 months later, HC acquitted her.
March 2, 2002 – Jayalalithaa wins byelection from Andipatti assembly constituency and is sworn in chief minister again.
November 7, 2002 – The trial resumes in assets case.
February 5, 2003 – DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan moves Supreme Court to shift the case out of Tamil Nadu to ensure a fair trial.
November 18, 2003 – Supreme Court transfers the case to Karnakata and directs the Karnataka government to constitute a special court and appoint a special judge within a month.
February 19, 2005 – Appoints former advocate-general of Karnataka and senior advocate B V Acharya as the special public prosecutor in the case.
August 14, 2012 – Acharya resigns from the post.
September 30, 2013 – Trial judge Balakrishna retires and Jayalalithaa unsuccessfully moves the Supreme Court seeking extension of his tenure.
October 31, 2013 – Karnataka high court appoints John Michael D’Cunha as trial judge
August 28, 2014 – Trail concludes
Sept 27, 2014 – Jaya sentenced to four years in jail, fined Rs 100 crore
Oct 7, 2014 – Karnataka HC rejects her bail plea
Oct 17, 2014 – Jaya gets bail with caveats
Dec 18, 2014 – SC extends bail to Jaya by four months, directs Karnataka HC to form special bench
Jan 1, 2015 – HC constitutes a special bench of Justice CR Kumaraswamy to hear the appeals
Political uncertainty
The 18-year-old case, filed by DMK veteran K Anbazhagan, is likely to change political equations in the state, slated to go to polls next year.
The “poor governance” of O Panneerselvam appointed as chief minister after Jayalalithaa’s conviction in the case in September last has been the sole ammunition of the opposition. Parties allege that after Jayalalithaa stepped down neither new schemes have been launched nor the ongoing works have completed.
Congress is optimistic that the verdict would go against the AIADMK chief. “As allegations have already been proven in the trial court, we hope justice will prevail this time too. In recent times, the high and mighty, including popular actors, are getting convicted, making the common man to repose faith in the judiciary,” said TNCC chief EVKS Elangovan.
While the opposition remains fragmented, leaders are keenly watching the outcome which could impact their political fortunes. DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan said, “The arguments put forth before the appellate court clearly show that the defence has failed to establish the innocence of the accused. They could not give solid reasons to set aside the punishment”.
The opposition campaign against corruption in the AIADMK government has been picking up tempo. The suicide of government engineer S Muthukumarasamy, allegedly due to political pressure, and the subsequent arrest of former agriculture minister S S (Agri) Krishnamoorthy propelled the issue of corruption further on to centrestage.
The past few days saw opposition leaders closing ranks and sharing camaraderie on various platforms. Actor Vijayakanth led an opposition delegation, courtesy BJP, to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prevail upon him to look into issues concerning the state. On Friday, DMK leader M K Stalin called on key opposition leaders to invite them for a family wedding, and the following day his half-sister Kanimozhi shared dais with Congress and Left parties at a memorial function for writer Jayakanthan.
TMC leader G K Vasan said the coming together of parties against corruption in the run-up to the polls was nothing new. “It (corruption) has been happening,” he told the Times of India
Security stepped up:
Security has been stepped up in Bengaluru ahead of Monday’s crucial verdict by a special bench of the Karnataka High Court on former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa’s appeal against her conviction in a disproportionate assets case.”We have deployed additional forces in the city and imposed ban order within 1km radius of the Karnataka High Court from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday to maintain law and order,” Additional Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar told the press.
The special high court bench headed by Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy will pronounce the judgment at 11 a.m. as directed by the Supreme Court, which extended Jayalalithaa’s bail up to May 12.
“Ten platoons of the Karnataka State Reserve Police, 500 policemen and 25 senior police officers will be present in and around the high court to ensure peace and prevent any untoward incident. Entry into the high court will also be restricted to avoid crowding,” Kumar said.
