BackJayalalithaa’s bail plea hearing adjourned again to 7 October
A special vacation bench said that the hearing would have to wait until a public prosecutor is appointed
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Chennai: The hearing on former Tamil Nadu chief minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief J. Jayalalithaa’s bail plea was on Wednesday adjourned to 7 October requiring her to stay in jail until then.
She had also appealed against the Bangalore special court’s conviction order of four-year imprisonment and a penalty of ₹ 100 crore in the disproportionate assets case.
A special vacation bench headed by Justice Rathnakala said on Wednesday that the hearing would have to wait until a public prosecutor is appointed as the case required representation on the prosecution side. The bail pleas of Jayalalithaa and close aides Sasikala, V.N Sudhakaran and Illavarasi will be heard by a regular bench on 7 October, the judge ruled.
On Tuesday, AIADMK lawyers filed a petition before the Karnataka high court to constitute a special bench to hear Jayalalithaa’s bail plea on Wednesday after the vacation bench adjourned it to 6 October. Since the high court is on an extended vacation, the vacation bench had taken up the case for hearing.
Unless the conviction is overturned by a higher court, Jayalalithaa runs the risk of being barred from contesting elections for 10 years—four years while she is in jail and six years after release. Last year, the Supreme Court in its judgement said an MLA or member of parliament (MP) is automatically disqualified if he or she is convicted and imprisoned for two years or more. Before this judgement, Section 8 (4) of the Representation of People Act, which was struck down by the apex court, protected an elected representative from disqualification if they appealed before a higher court within three months.
With the sentence, Jayalalithaa becomes the first serving chief minister to lose her post and go to jail.
Special judge John Michael D’Cunha had convicted the 66-year-old AIADMK chief in a case of owning assets to the tune ₹ 66.65 crore, disproportionate to her known sources of income during 1991-96 when she was chief minister for the first time.
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