The Trauma of Criminal Lawyers

Lawyers who defend those the media has declared as
murderers and terrorists face death threats, ethical pressures and taunts.

There is one question defence lawyers do not ask their clients — “Why did you do it?” Yet, it is a question that they themselves are asked by family and friends. Defending a person who is believed by the public to be a murderer or a terrorist is one of the most disturbing jobs today in the country because of the media crucifixion long before the trial begins.

Manu Sharma’s lawyer, Ram Jethmalani, defended JNU professor S A R Geelani in the Parliament attack case successfully and Indira Gandhi’s assassins not so successfully. He is one man who understands the cruel pressures of handling such briefs. He says about the moral questions that are thrown at him, “This is the reaction of a public that lacks knowledge. The press relies on the freedom of expression, but does not accept the right of the poor accused to appoint a defence lawyer of his own choice.”

The public perception of their jobs is just a discomfort compared to the far graver reactions some of them face. Defence lawyer Farhana Shah had to file a complaint with the Commissioner of Police in Mumbai. The lawyer for 18 accused in the 1993 Bombay bomb blasts case, and for one accused in the recent train blasts had received two threatening phone calls. The caller threatened to kill Shah and cut her into pieces if she did not desist from appearing for train blasts accused, Danish Khan. “At times like this I fear for my family. But I have not withdrawn from a case because of threats or what others are saying,” she says. Bombay High Court advocate Niteen Pradhan’s wife was troubled when her husband decided to appear for the accused in the 1993 blasts case. She said, “We don’t want money that is coloured in red.” Pradhan faced considerable social pressure too. “The Hindu community likened me to Brutus, but I was only doing my job,” he says. Abbas Kazmi’s wife and children expressed their concern when he was defending the accused in the same case. “They said, ‘We have heard they are terrorists. What if something happens to you?” he recalls.

When Pune-based criminal lawyer Shrikant Shivade chose to defend the main accused in the 1994 Jalgaon sex scandal, a shocking series of instances in which young girls were blackmailed into prostitution, some of his relatives conveyed their displeasure. Women’s groups followed him chanting slogans. “Everyone looked at us as if we were culprits, not lawyers,” he says.

Majeed Memon, who has defended several accused in underworld and terrorism related cases, is routinely chided by the media and in the legal circles as the justice system of the mafia. Lawyers like him find consolation in the law — the basic right of every man to be defended.

Even so, defence lawyers usually draw a line. Farhana Shah does not defend those accused in flesh trade and narcotic cases, or cases in which children are the victims. Abbas Kazmi avoids cases where there could be political interference and threats from goons. Nandkumar Rajurkar, who was Pravin Mahajan’s lawyer for some time, will not defend a person accused of raping a minor. In the General A S Vaidya murder case, Shivade received telegrams from the accused — Jinda and Sukha — to appear on their behalf. “I did not have the heart to appear in that case,” he says. However he did argue one point affecting the prisoners. “I pleaded the court to remove the iron fetters that chained their legs and hands, since they were already in solitary confinement. The court heard the plea and the fetters were removed.”

Once they decide to take a difficult brief, defence lawyers face the moral stress of the job in their own ways. Niteen Pradhan practises meditation and yoga every morning. “It helps me to detach myself from the pressures of my job.” Farhana Shah, a devout Muslim prays five times a day. Abbas Kazmi does community work at the local mosque on his days off.

Increasingly, defence lawyers are viewing the media as the biggest source of tension. Sometimes, lawyers succeed in getting the court to clamp down on reports appearing in the press while a case is going on, After a similar injunction during the Bharat Shah case when the media was instructed to stop playing the Sanjay Dutt-Chhota Shakeel tapes, Shah’s lawyers were met with protests outside the courtroom. Slogans saying, ‘Thanks for gagging our mouth’ were waved around by television reporters.

But there are lawyers who are overtly grateful to the media because attention also gets them clients. Nand-kumar Rajurkar was what is called a street lawyer before his sudden appearance for Pravin Mahajan hoisted him to celebrity status. Now, clients come to him because of his famous stint. “They don’t care whether I am good or bad. The tag of Pravin Mahajan’s lawyer alone makes them trust my abilities,” he says.

TOI