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TMI Blog2010 (12) TMI 1146X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... appearing parties. Leave granted. 2. Heard learned counsel for the parties. 3. This appeal has been filed against the impugned judgment and order of the High Court of Madras dated 29-4-2008 passed in Writ Petition No. 716 of 2007. 4. The facts have been set out in the impugned judgment and order and hence we are not repeating the same here. 5. The High Court had appointed a Commission of Enquiry headed by Hon ble Mr. Justice K.P. Sivasubramaniam, a retired Judge of the High Court of Madras which is on record. 6. During the course of the proceedings today, we had requested Mr. Altaf Ahmad, learned senior counsel, to assist us as Amicus Curiae in this case and we are grateful to Mr. Altaf Ahmad and we appreciate his assistance to us in this case. 7. As suggested by Mr. Altaf Ahmad, without going into the merits of the controversy, we direct that a sum of ₹ 1,50,000/- (Rs. One Lakh and Fifty Thousand only) be given to the appellant by the State of Tamil Nadu as compensation. We have been informed that the appellant had already received a sum of ₹ 50,000/- (Rs. Fifty Thousand only) and hence the remaining sum of ₹ 1,00,000/- (Rs. One Lakh only) s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... awyer to defend him. 17. We may give some historical examples in this connection. 18. When the great revolutionary writer Thomas Paine was jailed and tried for treason in England in 1792 for writing his famous pamphlet The Rights of Man in defence of the French Revolution the great advocate Thomas Erskine (1750-1823) was briefed to defend him. Erskine was at that time the Attorney General for the Prince of Wales and he was warned that if he accepts the brief, he would be dismissed from office. Undeterred, Erskine accepted the brief and was dismissed from office. 19. However, his immortal words in this connection stand out as a shining light even today : From the moment that any advocate can be permitted to say that he will or will not stand between the Crown and the subject arraigned in court where he daily sits to practice, from that moment the liberties of England are at an end. If the advocate refuses to defend from what he may think of the charge or of the defence, he assumes the character of the Judge; nay he assumes it before the hour of the judgment; and in proportion to his rank and reputation puts the heavy influence of perhaps a mistaken opinion into the sca ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sel as was attempted was either so indefinite or so close upon the trial as to amount to a denial of effective and substantial aid..... 24. In the same decision Justice Sutherland observed : What, then, does a hearing include? Historically and in practice, in our own country at least, it has always included the right to the aid of counsel when desired and provided by the party asserting the right. The right to be heard would be, in many cases, of little avail if it did not comprehend the right to be heard by counsel. Even the intelligent and educated layman has small and sometime no skill in the science of law. If charged with crime, he is incapable, generally, of determining for himself whether the indictment is good or bad. He is unfamiliar with the rules of evidence. Left without the aid of counsel he may be put on trial without a proper charge, and convicted upon incompetent evidence, or evidence irrelevant to the issue or otherwise inadmissible. He lacks both the skill and knowledge adequately to prepare his defense, even though he have a perfect one. He requires the guiding hand of counsel at every step in the proceedings against him. Without it, though he be not guil ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is novel Atticus Finch courageously defended a black man who was falsely charged in the State of Alabama for raping a white woman, which was a capital offence in that State. Despite the threats of violence to him and his family by the racist white population in town, and despite social ostracism by the predominant while community, Atticus Finch bravely defended that black man (though he was ultimately convicted and hanged because the jury was racist and biased), since he believed that everyone has a right to be defended. This novel inspired many young Americans to take up law as a profession in America. 29. The following words of Atticus Finch will ring throughout in history : Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It is knowing you are licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. 30. In our own country, Article 22(1) of the Constitution states : No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for which arrest nor shall he be denied the right to consult, and to be defended by, a legal practitioner of his choice . 31. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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