Friday, February 01, 2008

Major and minor offence

In the Harbhajan Singh imbroglio, the text of the verdict delivered by Justice Hansen refers to the following cross-questioning of witness:

Mr V.R.MANOHAR (lawyer, defending Harbhajan) : I put it to you that apart from the other Indian abuses he said to you the words “teri maki”?

Symonds: Possibly; I don’t recall, I don’t know that language.”

Finally, as we all know, the more serious charge of racism was dropped and Harbhajan was punished for a smaller offence of having used abusive language. Sharad Pawar and others have gone on record that justice had finally been done, and he would never have tolerated it, if any Indian cricketer had been accused of racial abuse.

I am personally very unimpressed with this Manohar. Can’t the BCCI find a lawyer who is slightly more proficient in English? Someone who can use a grammatically more correct name of “I am Manohar” instead of “V.R.Manohar”?

That side, I am very impressed with his questioning technique and his understanding of the nuances of law. Should be used in other situations, say, one in which an accused is under trial, for an attempted rape.

Defence lawyer to victim: I put it to you that defendant was not trying to rape you, but merely trying to choke you to death.

Victim: Now that you tell me, that’s quite possible,. If he had only mentioned his true intentions, I wouldn’t have panicked

Judge : Case dismissed. Preosecution has failed to provide sufficient evidence. Defendant is acquitted of the more serious charge of rape. However, for the minor offence of attempted murder, which the accused has graciously admitted as true, I fine him an amount equal to half his monthly salary.

6 comments:

Usha said...

We are Manohar, lol! do you suspect that he thinks he is more than one person, or is he using the royal we?

On a serious note i do wish law would take cognizance of rape as a more serious offence than attempted murder.

Raj said...

Neither, it is simply wrong grammar.

On the serious note, Usha,each is dastardly and horrible in its own way, and I don't want to get into which one is more serious. Just as a racist remark or an abusive remark is offensive in its own way. No sense in stating in defence that a less serious crime of 'abusing' happened. Which was my point.

Wellingtonbala said...

Money speaks Raj! And BCCI has big bucks.

I are amused at this post!

dipali said...

Very well stated, Raj.

Anonymous said...

It doesn't really makes sense, what did he mean by using such English? Don't they prepare?
The second one however is verr funny!

good one!

Hawkeye said...

:-).

people missed the subtle observation in #57 that harbhajan wouldnt be accused as racist even if 'teri ma ki' was actually 'monkey'.