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CHAPTER 7 ROUND THREE - HIGH COURT I

My lawyers explained the course of action. Once they got the written judgement they would be take the ensuing steps. They assured me that I would not have to present myself in court till the High Court application was resolved. In the High Court, where they would challenge the ruling of the magistrate, only points of law would be discussed. The presence of the petitioner was not required. Jawad would present the details. The office of the public prosecutor would have the opportunity to defend the ruling. The High Court judge would consider the merits of our petition and make his ruling.

If our arguments were rejected the case would go back to the Lower Court and the prosecution would be required to frame the charges against me - going back to the day I was released on bail. If the High Court found that the magistrate had erred in his ruling, there were two possibilities. The High Court had the power and the jurisdiction to make a ruling on the case, but that would be unusual; it was more likely that the case would go back to the Lower Court with the ruling that the magistrate pass relevant orders for the case to be reassessed in the light of the error made by the magistrate in his previous ruling. A point of law would have been made and my lawyers would then have the chance to be reheard without too much formality.

The only problem with the High Court was that it served the whole of the Karnataka comprising over 40 million people. Although there were several sitting benches, there were also 50,000 petitions pending. The chance of mine being heard soon was remote. I probably would have to wait a year or so before my petition was referred to a judge. During that time my passport would remain in the custody of the the High Court, and I would not have the freedom to travel out of India, not that I had any plans just then, but the thought bothered me.

There are two stages in a High Court petition. The first is when an application is made by the lawyers to be heard. This process is quick. In my case it was immediately accepted. The next stage, however, was the problem. It was going to take a long time to get through to the hearing stage and for a ruling to be given.

This would have been acceptable for anyone in a situation where one's current passport was not impounded. A person would be free to go about one's business, in India or abroad. Since my passport was, however, now in the custody of the court, I was partially imprisoned within the country: I could not travel abroad.

In getting my petition accepted in the High Court we had reached the next level of this complex game. We now had to wait and be fully prepared to present our facts and points of law before the High Court judge at any time. Jawad got ready for this event and in the meantime we went about our lives as normally as possible.

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