The sessions court has imposed a fine on the defence counsels in the Nooriya Haveliwala case, as they had sought an adjournment in the case to cross-examine witnesses later in the court. Mea-nwhile the defence also withdrew the application filed by advocate Ashwin Thool stating that the case be transferred to another court.
This is the second time the defence is seeking adjournment for cross-examining the witnesses in the case, resulting in a fine of `2,000.
According to special public prosecutor K. Raikar, the defence asked for the adjournments on the grounds that they weren’t prepared to examine the witnesses.
“There was also a major misunderstanding between defence advocates. On April 3, they filed the application asking for the adjournment. The court said the case was scheduled for hearing on April 4, and the application would be heard then. However, the defence misunderstood and immediately filed an application in the principal judge’s court stating that the court wasn’t giving the defence a fair chance. When the court allowed the adjournment application, the defence realised the mistakes and withdrew the second application,” Mr Raikar said.
When contacted, Mr Thool refused to comment.