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ADAMANT: Advocate Dinesh Mota had turned down the court's request to defend terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Qasab

Even after the Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan termed the refusal of lawyers to defend terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Qasab as 'inappropriate', the legal fraternity in Mumbai is refusing to budge.

Last week, Dinesh Mota, an advocate of the legal-aid cell, turned down the court's request to defend Qasab.
 
"The city is my family, and I cannot defend a man who has killed my family members in any circumstances," said an adamant Mota.

Advocate Shrikant Shivde said that defending Qasab is out of question. "Qasab is not an Indian citizen. Hence the question of fundamental rights given by the Constitution of India does not arise," Shivde added.

However, Justice Kshitij Vyas, former High Court judge and chairman of State Human Rights Commission, said that prosecuting Qasab without a lawyer would be against the principles of democracy.

"No lawyer can be forced to take up a case. But it would be unethical and morally wrong from a professional view to refuse to defend Qasab," he said.

Sudeep Pasbola, president, Bar Association of Sessions Court, said, "If a lawyer, on the legal aid panel, refuses to take up a case, the court can refer his name to bar council for disciplinary action."

However, lawyer on the legal-aid panel can refuse to take-up a case, provided they have a genuine reason for the refusal. Rajiv Patil, president, Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa, said, "Though according to the professional conduct of the council the lawyer should not refuse the case, but he can do so by asserting a genuine reason."