Ishrat case: BJP cites role of then PM, HM in changing affidavit

March 2, 2016

New Delhi, Mar 2: BJP today alleged that the decision to change the affidavit in Ishrat Jahan encounter case was taken at the "political level" involving the then Home Minister P Chidambaram, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, and asked Congress to come clean on it.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu charged that CBI was misused by the then UPA government to harass its political opponent and "defame" the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is now Prime Minister.

He said the issue needs to be debated and discussed in Parliament and appropriate action needs to be taken.

"First it was Lashkar-e-Taiba's website, secondly it was David Headley's statement and thirdly it was central government affidavit in the Gujarat High Court and Gujarat Police also said it. IB has said it. In spite of all these, they changed the affidavit.

"Now another startling revelation by former Home Secretary G K Pillai (who is) saying that the decision to change the affidavit was taken at the political level. Political level means the then Home Minister P Chidambaram, Prime Minister and Congress President. These are the three people who were at the helm of affairs," Naidu told reporters here.

He also cited former Under Secretary in Home Ministry R V S Mani's statement that he was forced and tortured.

"The torturing of government officer by other agency at the behest of political leadership, you can understand how much misuse was done by the previous government with regard to CBI. How political opponents were harassed. The entire plan was to stop Narendra Modi, defame Narendra Modi, implicate Narendra Modi," he said.

"Congress party should come clean instead of simply denying it. What do you say? What is the justification for change in affidavit? Do you have an answer? explain," he said.
Naidu said his government was ready to discuss all matters in Parliament. Leader of Congress party in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said it would be better if Chidambaram speaks on the matter. "I do not have details on it. It would be better if Chidambaram speaks on it. I do not want to comment on it," Kharge said.

Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi had accused BJP of spreading a lie about American-Pakistani terrorist David Headley and said it was "very unfortunate" that the ruling party was resorting to false propaganda.

The trigger for the recent political battle is the interview of Mani, who had filed two affidavits. In the interview, Mani alleged he was tortured to implicate senior IB officials in the case to project the encounter killing of Ishrat and other three LeT terrorists in Ahmedabad in 2004 as fake.

Mani suggested that Chidambaram was behind the decision to file the second affidavit. He alleged that the then chief of Special Investigation Team (SIT) going into the case, a CBI official, was after him and an attempt was made to question the quality of professional inputs by the intelligence agencies on Ishrat and other terrorists.

Speaking on the matter, CPI(M) Politburo member Brinda Karat said there has been an encounter killing. "Whether or not Ishrat Jahan was an LeT operative is a different issue and that issue is before the Supreme Court. Let the Supreme Court come to its own conclusion. But the basic issue here is that it was an encounter killing," she said.

Road, Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said at that time, the Congress party and former Home Minister Chidambaram had done some activities which were "anti-national". "It is sort of helping terrorists and the issue should be investigated and the culprits should be punished," Gadkari said.

Comments

Guys see this one more issue....Can you all concentrate on any one of the issue going in our nation ? No, coz any 1 of the issue if you are addressing or protesting against it the other issue will come up and the entire nation will forget the earlier. Let me try to get something in list
Vyapam Scam - Punbaj Attack- Pathankot attack- Rohit Vemula- Ishrath Jahan encounter Devid headly's statement- JNU- Sonu Sori- Budget - Now affidavit issue with Ishrath jahan's case. ( Lot of attacks on daliths, muslims, secular people and thinkers in b/w all of these issues )
On which issue nation will speak ? On which are you gonna question the ruling ? Which things media will highlight / Debate...1, 2 ,3 ???? Common guys wake up , what is our India gonna become ?

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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