CHENNAI: Is the action of an advocate in representing a Maoist a crime?
Saying no, the Madras High Court has discharged a lawyer from a criminal case on Friday.
The charge against Murugan was that he had allegedly handed over the electronic materials and pamphlets containing the ideologies of the banned CPI (Maoist) to another person, who was in the naxal organisation.
Allowing a petition from the advocate, Justice M V Muralidaran discharged him from the criminal case pending before a trial court in Dharmapuri and set aside its order refusing to discharge him from the case.
R Sankarasubbu contended that since the petitioner, a practising advocate, defended the false cases foisted against innocent persons branding them as Maoists, he had been falsely implicated in the case.
The judge said if a Maoist accused of an offence seeks the professional assistance of a lawyer, it was his duty to defend. The petitioner was implicated in this case with an ulterior motive, the judge said.