Sunanda Pushkar case: Subramanian Swamy moves Court to be made a party in the trial

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has moved the Court of Additional Sessions Judge seeking to be a part of the Sunanda Pushkar trial in terms of Section 301 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973..Opposing the application, Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa who appears for accused Shashi Tharoor said that Swamy’s presence in the trial proceeding was ‘uncalled for’..He is a stranger to the proceeding as he is neither the complainant nor the victim, Pahwa stated..Judge Arun Bhardwaj has listed the case for arguments on April 26. He has also allowed Tharoor to file his response to Swamy’s application under Section 301, CrPC..Pahwa also argued against Prosecutor Atul Shrivastav’s plea seeking the supply of certain documents in the case to third parties..Defending an order passed by ACMM Samar Vishal restraining sharing of chargesheet and documents in the Sunanda Pushkar trial, Pahwa contended that strangers to the trial are not entitled to copies of any document..The CrPC, as well as the Delhi High Court Rules, do not recognize the right of a third party to seek documents in a criminal trial, he submitted..If the Prosecutor intended to share the documents with his juniors involved in the case, the order passed by Judge Vishal need not be set aside, Pahwa said..Raising apprehensions of a media trial in case if the documents are accessed by the media, Pahwa said that it would be in violation of the right to fair trial, the right to privacy and other Constitutional rights of the accused. Trial by media is against the cardinal principle of criminal law that one is innocent until proven guilty, he added..The matter will be heard next on April 12.