Convicted Prisoners Can Argue Their Own Case From Prison Through Use Of Video Conferencing Facilities: Madras High Court

The bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy was hearing a plea by businessman R Subramanian, promoter of Subhiksha retail chain. In November last year, Subramanian was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for defrauding investors and diverting their investments through shell companies.

He had then approached the high court challenging his conviction. Apart from this, he also has various other matters pending before the High Court.

On Wednesday, his counsel informed the court that Subramanian wanted to argue some of his cases on his own without engaging a lawyer and sought permission for the same.

Though the court noted that a blanket relief could not be granted, it added that there was nothing against the same and a convict could be allowed to argue their case by providing necessary video conferencing facilities inside the premises. The court also added that the accused need not be required to come to court and could use the video conferencing facilities to argue the case from prison.

The court has asked the counsel to provide a list of cases that Subramanian wanted to argue on his own and said that necessary orders would be passed after the same.

Case Title: R Subramanian v Registrar Judicial

Case No: WP/161378/2023 (Filing No.)