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Jayalalithaa free as a bird, acquitted for only having 8% illegal assets [READ 919-PAGE (!) JUDGMENT] [UPDATE-3]

In a development bound to bring her back as Tamil Nadu's chief minister, the Karnataka High Court on Monday acquitted AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case, triggering wild celebrations by her supporters all across the state.

(See judgment summary below)

"Justice has won," the former Tamil Nadu chief minister gloated hours after a special bench in Bengaluru acquitted her in the Rs.66.65 crore case in which she was sentenced to four years in jail by a lower court.

The charges were not "sustainable", Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy said in the much-awaited verdict in the case in which Jayalalithaa, 67, was also fined a whopping Rs 100 crore.

The judge also acquitted Jayalalithaa's three co-convicts who too were sentenced to four years in jail and fined Rs.10 crore each. They included close aide Sasikala Natarajan.

The lower court was told to release Jayalalithaa's confiscated assets.

"The judgement signifies that justice has won," said Jayalalithaa, who stepped down as chief minister after her earlier conviction. "It is not a victory for me but a victory for justice."

Within minutes of the judgement, AIADMK leaders, including Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, rushed to Jayalalithaa's residence. Outside and all over Chennai and Tamil Nadu, boisterous celebrations erupted.

Political analyst Gnani Shankaran told IANS that the judgement would place Jayalalithaa on a strong wicket ahead of the 2016 elections in Tamil Nadu.

The AIADMK may even go for a snap election, he said.

AIADMK sources said Jayalalithaa was set to return as Tamil Nadu's chief minister. By law, she will have to get elected to the assembly within six months.

DMK leader and former chief minister M. Karunanidhi raised questions about the judgement.

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy, who enjoys frosty ties with the AIADMK leader, threatened to appeal against the verdict.

None of this made any difference to the mass of Jayalalithaa supporters all across Tamil Nadu who burst firecrackers, danced, whistled, gave away sweets and kept shouting "Long Live Amma".

AIADMK cadres had been waiting with bated breath for the court decision.

A pleased Jayalalithaa thanked everyone who prayed for her acquittal.

Expressing her pain that 237 people committed suicide after the trial court's verdict convicting her, she said they too could have been part of the celebrations now if they had shown the patience.

Said AIADMK spokesperson C.R. Saraswathi: "It is a victory for justice. It was a case foisted on her."

This is not the first time Jayalalithaa has been convicted and later acquitted.

In 2000, a trial court sentenced her to jail terms of three years and two years in two cases.

In 2001, she stepped down as chief minister following a Supreme Court verdict which held that she cannot hold the office after being convicted for criminal offences.

However, in 2002, Jayalalithaa again became the chief minister after being acquitted by the Madras High Court. She was later elected from Andipatti constituency.

The judgment & lawyers: Only 8% illegal income is not so bad

The Karnataka High Court said the total value of assets disproportionate to her known sources of income was only Rs.2.82 crore or eight percent.

The Tamil Nadu government had charged Jayalalithaa with amassing around Rs.66 crore of assets disproportionate to her known sources of income for which she was convicted by a lower court in Bengaluru. She had appealed to the Karnataka High Court.

In his judgment acquitting her, Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy calculated the total assets of Jayalalithaa at around Rs.37.59 crore and her total income at around Rs.34.76 crore, and said thus, the disproportionate assets worked out to only around Rs.2.82 crore, or 8.12 percent of the total income.

"It is well-settled law that according to Krishnanand Agnihotri (Krishnanand Aggnihotri vs State of MP) case, when there is disproportionate asset to the extent of 10 percent, the accused are entitled for acquittal," he said in the order.

"A circular has been issued by the government of Andhra Pradesh that disproportionate assets to the extent of 20 percent can also be considered as a permissible limit. The margin of 10 percent to 20 percent of the disproportionate assets has been taken as a permissible limit, taking into consideration the inflatory measures," Justice Kumaraswamy said in the order.

The judge said the prosecution has mixed up assets of accused, firms and companies and also added the cost of construction amounting to Rs.27,79,88,945 and marriage expenses at Rs.6,45,04,222 to value the assets at Rs.66,44,73,573.

"If we remove the exaggerated value of cost of construction and marriage expenses, the assets will work out at Rs.37,59,02,466," Justice Kumaraswamy said.

The total income of the accused, firms and companies is Rs.34,76,65,654 and thus percentage of disproportionate assets is 8.12 percent.

"It is relatively small. In the instant case, the disproportionate asset is less than 10 percent and it is within permissible limit. Therefore, accused are entitled for acquittal," the order stated.

"When the principal accused has been acquitted, the other accused, who have played a lesser role are also entitled for acquittal," Justice Kumaraswamy said.

Read 919-page judgment here (via @alokpi)

@Jimanish tweeted:

Seriously, Karnataka HC, 384 pages on depositions of witnesses? Might as well have heard the entire case de novo. #QuestionOfLaw #NOT

Followed by 228 pages of part-summary, part-verbatim-reproduction of the Trial Court's order. #FacepalmKiDukaan

The actual arguments on the appeal start from Page 664. This case is a great example of how not to write a summary of facts in an appeal.

She was represented by several lawyers including B Kumar, who said that the case against Jayalalithaa couldn’t be proved so she has been let off, reported the Times of India and others in live blogs.

The TOI reported:

When the judge read out the word ‘acquitted,’ AIADMK lawyers rose in unison and greeted him with folded hands. They trooped out of court halls shouting “Amma Vaazgha...Amma Vaazgha"

Fali Nariman had won bail for her in October 2014, a few weeks after she was sentenced to four years in jail for holding disproportionate assets.

The Jayalalithaa judgment

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