New Delhi: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Chief Lalu Prasad, who has apprehended fair trial in the disproportionate assets case in Bihar, played the caste card before the Supreme Court on Thursday, alleging that BJP did not want the trial before a dalit judge.
Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi, who has sought lifting of the stay on the trial of case in Patna, alleged that an atmosphere has been created in the state that even the judge cannot stand up to ensure justice.
Referring to the proceedings before four judges prior to the appointment of Munilal Paswan as Special CBI judge to hold the trial of case, senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Prasad, said previous judges were Brahmins and upper caste people and at that time there were no objections from BJP.
"When the case was tried before the upper caste people (judges) there were no complaints. But now when the dalit judge was trying the case BJP has a problem," he alleged before a Bench comprising Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justice A R Lakshmanan and Justice S H Kapadia.
However, Jethmalani's argument on caste lines was strongly objected to by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who has opposed Prasad's plea saying it was not proper for him to argue raising the issue of high castes and low castes.
At the outset, Jethmalani reiterated his earlier apprehension that Yadav and his wife were not going to get justice in Bihar and Jharkhand and sought its shifting anywhere else in the country.
"My clients are ready for the shifting of the trial anywhere. Be it Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata or Chennai," he told the Bench which fixed July 12, 13 and 14 for final hearing on the matter.
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