ACMM reserves order in Subramanian Swamy’s plea to assist the Court in Sunanda Pushkar trial

The Court of the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Samar Vishal today reserved its order in BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s plea under Section 302 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973 to assist the Court in the Sunanda Pushkar trial..The application also seeks to bring on record the Delhi Police’s Vigilance Report on tampering of evidence in the case for framing of additional charges..The order would be pronounced by Judge Vishal on December 10..Swamy’s plea was strongly opposed by the Prosecution as well as Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa who appeared for the sole accused in the case, Congress Leader Shashi Tharoor..The Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava submitted that since the case is triable by the Sessions Court, an application under section 301 ought to be made and not section 302..He further argued that the purpose of a Vigilance Report is to ascertain whether “the service of an officer is still required” and not to determine the commission of an offence..He further asserted that since it is a criminal trial, the matter is between the State and the accused person. Hence, no interference by a third party is mandated..Agreeing with Shrivastava, Pahwa argued that Swamy was “an alien to the case” and has no locus..“It is a criminal trial. He is a stranger to the proceeding. (If this is allowed) Everybody in the country will start poking their noses in every trial.”.Trial Court is not governed by rules of public interest litigation, Pahwa said..“Just because you tweet about it first doesn’t give you the right to become part of the trial.”.Swamy, on the other hand, claimed that he was not a total stranger to the case..“I am the person who filed the PIL before the Supreme Court and for things moving.”, he said..He also urged the Court to direct Delhi Police to place the Vigilance Report before it in a sealed cover..“I am only saying that the charges framed are incomplete“, Swamy argued while asking the Court to consider the content of the report and then decide on whether to forward it to the Sessions Court for framing of charges..After hearing the parties, Judge Vishal proceeded to reserve the order in the application..Meanwhile, Pahwa and the Prosecution have been asked to complete the formalities under section 207 of CrPC in three days. Once the conditions under section 207 are satisfied, the case would be committed to Sessions Court for trial..Swamy had earlier filed a petition in the Delhi High Court calling for a court-monitored SIT probe into the case. However, this plea was rejected by the Court..Subsequently, Swamy approached the Supreme Court in the appeal. The Delhi Police told the Supreme Court that it would submit its final report by May 14..Last May, the matter was transferred to a fast track court. Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmendra Singh of the Patiala House Court transferred the matter to Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal.