Reacting to Supreme Court’s judgement on confessional statement made before CBI, Rhea Chalraborty’s lawyer, Satish Manshinde said that a now a large number of accused will see the light of the day.
The court in its judgement ruled out that confessional statement made before investigating officers by those who have been accused can not be used to convict them. The court said that it would be equal to infringement of individual rights fundamental rights to life, equaltiy and protection against self-incrimination.
Calling it a landmark judgement, Mr Manshinde said, “The Judgement rendered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in respect of Section 67 of the NDPS Act is a Landmark pronouncement. A large number of people have been incarcerated and punished on the basis of statements forcibly extracted by using third degree, coercion and threats to innocent individuals violating their Fundamental Rights in the last 35 years.”
Rhea Chakraborty has been accused of procuring drugs and was arrested under NDPS act. As of now, she is out on bail.
Talking about the drug angle in Sushant Singh Rajput case, Mr Manshinde said, “Even in the case of all accused in the SSR Drugs Angle case, there’s hardly any recovery and independent evidence to charge them of serious offences. They are languishing in custody on the basis of inadmissible statements. In view of this Judgement rendered by Justice Rohington Nariman and Navin Sinha a large number of accused will see the light of the day.” Noting that the judgement will work in favour of “downtrodden people languishing in our overcrowded ill-maintained jails,” Maneshinde concluded: “Rhea Chakraborty’s case has lost total steam in the merits of the allegations by virtue of this Judgement.”
The NCB has arrested over 20 people in connection to the alleged drugs nexus that emerged during the investigation of Sushant Singh Rajput death case in the film industry. The agency had earlier quizzed actors such as Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor and Rakul Preet Singh.
