By S Venkat Narayan
NEW DELHI, October 7: The Karnataka High Court in Bangalore on Tuesday refused to suspend the sentence imposed last fortnight on Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIADMK Chief Jayaram Jayalalithaa and her three aides by a special court in the disproportionate assets case and refused to order their release on bail.
Jayalalithaa and three others, Ms V Sasikala, Sudhakaran and J Ilavarasi are likely to move the Supreme Court on Wednesday challenging the Karnataka High Court order. Sources said besides senior counsel Ram Jethmalani, another leading criminal lawyer Sushil Kumar is also being approached to argue the case for bail.
The High Court not only refused to grant of bail but also declined to stay the sentence of four-year imprisonment and INR 100-crore penalty imposed on her in the 18-year-old INR 66.65-crore disproportionate assets case.
Dismissing the bail petitions, the court said: “In view of clear observation of the apex court that corruption is a violation of human rights, this is not a fit case for suspension and bail.”
Counsel for Jayalalithaa, who did not want to be quoted, said: “We are waiting for the certified copy of the High Court order to prepare the grounds for appeal. We are ready to file the appeal in the apex court tomorrow.”
Justice AV Chandrashekar of the Karnataka High Court passed the interim order rejecting the pleas of all the four convicts for suspending the sentence imposed on them till their appeal against conviction is decided by the High Court.
The High Court also refused to release them on bail.
A Special Court had, on September 27, sentenced Jayalalithaa, Sasikala, Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi to four years’ imprisonment while imposing exemplary fine on them.
Senior Supreme Court advocate Ram Jethmalani represented Jayalalithaa’s case along with the defence team.
The order by Justice AV Chandrashekhara came after Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Bhavani Singh told the court that he had no objection to granting conditional bail to Jayalalithaa, who is in the Bangalore Central Jail since her conviction by the Special Court on September 27.
In his order pronounced in a packed court room, the judge said there “are no grounds” to give bail to the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and observed that corruption amounts to “violation of human rights” and leads to economic imbalance.
As the SPP told the court that he is not opposed to bail for Jayalalithaa, AIADMK supporters, who had gathered near the jail where Jayalalithaa is lodged, and near the court, went delirious anticipating her release. When the verdict came, they went into a state of disbelief.
“My client will take a call,” Ram Jethmalani said after the verdict, when asked whether they will approach the Supreme Court.
Earlier in his submissions on Jayalalithaa’s behalf, Jethmalani strongly pleaded for immediate bail to the 66-year-old leader citing the Supreme Court verdict granting relief to former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad in the fodder scam.
The court did not accept the submission, with the judge noting that Lalu Prasad had spent 10 months in jail before being granted bail by the apex court.
Courtesy:The Island