Makarand Gadgil: Justice delayed, not denied

BACKSTAGE

His friends talk in hushed tones about his lack of social life due to the high-risk Z category security drill, after he received three threatening letters written in red ink. But the man of the moment, Justice Pramod Kode, is not complaining. For, the make-shift TADA court in Mumbai's Arthur Road jail has been an integral part of his life for the last 10 years.

Justice Kode, who took over as the designated judge of the TADA court from J N Patel in March 1996, has not taken a single day's leave during the course of trial. That's understandable as the work of adjudicating a case that involved the biggest terrorist attack in the history of Independent India was daunting.

Investigating agencies submitted a whopping 10,000-page chargesheet against the 191 accused. During the course of the trial, 686 witnesses were examined and 13,000 pages of oral evidence was recorded. This is apart from the depositions of the accused, which account for another 7,000-odd pages. This explains why it took Kode three years to write a judgement after the trial ended.

It's not surprising that no one has ever complained against the judge's obsession for delivering judgement in the fairest manner.

The son of a blue-collar worker, Kode started his legal career in the mid-1970s as a junior of renowned criminal lawyer Ramakant Aovlekar. And like his godfather, he has acquired the reputation of being one of the most meticulous and humane judges in the country. Once, he allowed a key accused in the blasts case to attend his mother's funeral. He also allowed actor Sanjay Dutt to travel abroad for his film shoots. During the 2003 Cricket World Cup, television sets were installed in one of the most sensitive cells of the jail after some inmates expressed a desire to watch the World Cup matches.

When the prosecution in the Mumbai blasts case asked for cancellation of bails of the accused on grounds that they might abscond, Kode rejected the plea saying that he had complete faith in the accused who had not let him down in the last 13 years.

Kode's insistence on following not only the spirit, but also the letter of the law, though, was a source of constant irritation for the prosecution and defence counsels. That's why on September 12, when Kode announced that he would pronounce the judgement in phases, not many people in the court room were surprised. But the Judge had the last word when he said "he alone has to listen, examine and decide on the evidence collected by 100 police officials, presented to the court by a dozen-odd prosecution lawyers and refuted by more than two dozen defence counsels."

As the case is on its last lap, Justice Kode would like to remind his detractors that justice delayed is not always justice denied.