Former Senior Advocate and noted criminal lawyer, R.K. Anand has tendered a “sincere and unqualified unconditional apology” to the Supreme Court in the 1999 BMW hit-and-run case. 

Anand, a former Rajya Sabha member, and Public Prosecutor I.U. Khan, had been caught on camera in a sting operation conducted by NDTV, when they were trying to convince chief witness Sunil Kulkarni to withdraw his statement. The Delhi High Court had, in August 2008, declared the both lawyers as guilty of contempt of court and had imposed a 4-month ban from practicing.

In the suo motu petition, Senior Counsel Sanjay Jain, with Luthra & Luthra’s Delhi based litigation Partner, Vijay K. Sondhi and counsels Varun Pareek and Kapil Arora appeared on behalf of NDTV. Senior Counsels Vinay Bhasin and Ashok Bhasin appeared for Anand and Senior Counsel P.P. Rao, appeared on behalf of I.U. Khan. Senior Counsel S.P. Kalra with Munish Malhotra successfully argued for the third contemnor, Sri Bhagwan Sharma. Counsel Arvind Nigam was appointed by the High Court as the amicus curiae to assist the court.

In two appeals filed by I.U. Khan and R.K. Anand, a three-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices B.N. Agrawal, G.S. Singhvi and Aftab Alam had in July 2009, set aside the conviction of I.U. Khan. Before the Supreme Court, Anand engaged Senior Counsels Altaf Ahmed and P.P. Rao was retained by Khan. Harish Salve was brought in by NDTV and Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium and Senior Counsel Nageshwar Rao assisted the the court as amici curiarum.

However, the Supreme Court issued a show cause notice to Anand seeking an explanation as to why he must not face a more severe punishment, including jail. Reports indicate that the former senior advocate yesterday tendered an unconditional apology vide an affidavit, stating that he faces “great humiliation and loss of reputation is worse than death”.

The affidavit filed before a Division Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices B. Sudershan Reddy and S.S. Nijjar, Anand has also apologised for having sought a recusal of Justice Manmohan Sarin of the Delhi High Court, on the grounds that he was biased. This time however, Senior Counsel and M.R. Calla appeared on behalf of Anand. Senior Counsels L. Nageshwar Rao and Gopal Subramaniam continue as amici curiarum while Vijay Sondhi continues to appear for NDTV.

Speaking to Bar & Bench, Sondhi confirmed that the Supreme Court is scheduled to consider the apology April 9, after receiving objections from the other concerned parties

This is the first time that a lawyer of the Anand’s stature has been caught red handed and convicted. However, the Bar is divided over the quantum of punishment that needs to be imposed. The Chairman of the Bar Council of India had gone on record earlier that the High Court had wrongly exercised its jurisdiction by suspending Anand and I.U. Khan.

Reference:

Supreme Court: R.K. Anand vs. Registrar, Delhi High Court, Criminal Appeal No. 1393/ 2008 and I.U. Khan vs. Registrar, Delhi High Court, Criminal Appeal No. 1451/ 2008

Delhi High Court: Court on its own motion through Arvind Nigam vs. State and others: Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 796/ 2007