Judge can use mobile during a hearing

High Court Dismisses Argument That Judge Didn’t Apply Mind During Court Martial

Even in the face of overwhelming evidence against the accused, can a judge be said to have done complete justice if he was found to be sending SMSs during the hearing of arguments in the case?

This question came up before the Delhi high court as a naval officer questioned his conviction in a corruption case. In the face of voluminous evidence against him, the officer raised several grounds before Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul to allege that the trial was vitiated.

One of the allegations was that the president of the court martial had not applied his mind judiciously to his case as it was found that during the hearing he had used his mobile phone extensively to send SMSes, though unrelated to the case, to others. After weighing the evidence, which was squarely and conclusively against the officer, Justice Kaul brushed aside all objections raised against the court martial proceedings, upheld his conviction and dismissed his appeal.

However, the question remained and would continue to haunt the judiciary and quasi-judicial bodies — can a judge during a hearing use his mobile phone and keep sending SMSes without it affecting his ability to grasp the arguments? Counsel Meet Malhotra, appearing for the court martial convicted M P Verma, produced before the HC voluminous records from MTNL showing the large number of SMSes sent by the president of the court martial proceedings.

He then asked the question: “Can the president of the court martial be said to have applied his mind to the case if throughout the proceedings he was sending SMSs to such a large extent? Does this not exhibit that he gave no attention to the trial?”

Convinced about the guilt of the accused, Justice Kaul was not to be distracted by the SMSs sent by the president of the court martial. He said: “The allegation that the president of the court martial had not applied his mind while holding the trial has not been substantiated.”

“Merely because some SMSes were sent by the president on a particular day or two would not reflect the non-application of mind by the president of the court martial, more so when the accused was duly represented by defence counsel who has cross-examined each and every witness throughout the trial and has made all objections whatever available to him while recording of the evidence of those witnesses,” Justice Kaul said.

The Times of India 30th October 2008 P. 9 New Delhi
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