A session court has ordered the police to return the driving licence and car of Janhavi Gadkar, the Reliance Industries in-house lawyer and former Talwar Thakore Associates associate who allegedly killed two passengers in a taxi when driving drunk in June 2015, reported DNA and India Today.
DNA reported:
Gadkar was reportedly allowed to take her licence back after she submitted the required endorsement from the regional transport office (RTO). The court had allowed the car to be returned to her last week, and she can use the car without changing its colour.
India Today added:
According to the sources, Gadkar had appealed to the Deputy Commissioner of Regional Transport Office against the suspension of her license. She got a favorable order by the court on the basis that principals of natural justice was not followed before suspending the license and ordered a re-investigation by the RTO officer.
She had been released on bail after 57 days in jail after the accident, with the police having resisted her bail plea strongly against her lawyer, senior counsel Amit Desai (who had also represented Salman Khan, securing the overturning of his drunk driving conviction before the Bombay high court).
A 560-page charge sheet has been filed against Gadkar.
In the aftermath of the accident the media had come down hard on Gadkar, though coverage of her case has decreased since then.
Comments
Secondly, what is the urgency in giving back her license when a case involving two accident deaths is being heard?
A sane person, who allegedly killed 2 persons driving drunk, wouldn't even dare to get behind the wheels. But again, I am talking about sane people!
I do not see the legal community make strong comments on this special perk granted by the hon. court. Or is it just fraternal love that's holding back?
Stupid assertion, right.
People, please be careful on the damn freeway
-Perks and curse of being a litigation lawyer.
Similarly .. I'm sure lawyer memsaab will have a statement from a pigeon that the pigeon drove the car while Mr. Desai was in the back seat keenly observing both the pigeon in the driver's seat and the lawyer memsaab in the passenger seat.
God save our country from these rich buffoons!
Be it Michael Jackson or OJ in US or Bhai, Sanju 'baba' or another Supreme Court counsel caught on tape or now this lady ... money gets the best lawyers and regardless of whether you were guilty or not, you will be fine.
Capiche?
Kian - how about doing a little reporting and determining if she was still enrolled as an advocate? And, if so, has the bar initiated any review based on her alleged behavior in this case. (Hey! Stop laughing out there.) Maybe she had a foreign admission she continues to hold.
If she isn't enrolled, you need not describe her as a lawyer, any more than an MBBS graduate without a license is a doctor.
The ability to convey privilege is a critical issue for companies, particularly those such as Reliance with multi-national operations and exposure to U.S. regulation. Non-advocates cannot convey attorney-client privilege. This matters.
Further, top-level in-house advisors such as Tata's Bharat Vasani have been campaigning for years to expand the definition of "advocate" to include in-house legal officers for certain purposes. Fact is that the is no requirement that in-house counsel in India have any legal qualification or training at all. Requiring it is a company preference, not a mandate.
You're missing a story and embarrassing yourself with your imprecise language and disrespect for fact-based discussion. Yo.
She's an ex-private practice lawyer who now works in-house in the legal team, surely whether there's privilege or whether she's an advcoate or not is not relevant to this story.
However, you're not alone - I too find privilege and advocate licensing deeply fascinating, but the takeaway I have most often from studying the subject is that the regulation of lawyers and the Advocates Act are completely archaic and need an overhaul.
But does anyone who matters care about that?
That's the punishment nowadays for drunk driving causing death?
C'mon! This is a f**king joke!