NEW DELHI: Reiterating the contents of her letter to the Chief Justice of India, CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat on Friday said that there is neither contempt nor malice. Brinda alleged that Bar Council has described her letter and its reporting as “acts of gross contempt”. “On the contrary some of the words in the Council’s resolution may be taken as intimidation,” she said in a letter to the BCI chairman.
“I am responding to this resolution not because my name has been mentioned in the said resolution several times in the most derogatory terms, but because the issues raised in the resolution have wider implications for the struggle for justice,” she said, referring to a resolution adopted by the Council.
Brinda said the resolution asks a rhetorical question that “comments made by the judges not resulting in their orders have no legal sanctity, why then raise a hue and cry on such comments?” Comments made by higher authorities such as those made in the case asking a rape accused whether he would marry his victim, have a most damaging impact on victims of crimes and, in this case, tend to dilute the enormity of a crime against a minor, she asserted.
“It is indeed distressing that the resolution does not at all show any sensitivity whatsoever to the minor victim. It requires examination why a council of such senior lawyers should not see the necessity of judicial processes, more so in cases of rape of a minor, to put the interests of the victim, not the perpetrator, at the centre of the process for justice.”
“There is neither contempt nor malice in my letter and it’s reporting in the media. On the contrary, some of the words in the Council’s resolution may be taken as intimidation. I doubt very much if such intimidation and threats against an individual/s are within the mandate of the Council,” she wrote.