90% disabled, can’t even change clothes on his own, Om Prakash Chautala’s lawyer contends seeking lenient sentence

The court, after hearing arguments from both the prosecution and the defence, reserved its verdict and is now set to pronounce the sentence in the case on Friday afternoon.

On Thursday, the lawyers representing Chautala underlined the Indian National Lok Dal chief’s ailing health, old age, physical-disability and the jail time that he had already served at Tihar — where he had also completed his Class 10 and Class 12 education — after being convicted in the JBT teachers recruitment scam, to be considered as grounds for adopting a lenient view.

The prosecution — the CBI — on the other hand contended that adopting any lenient view by the court while awarding punishment shall send a “wrong message” and strictest possible punishment should be awarded.

The hearing in the disproportionate assets case, in which Chautala was convicted on May 21, begun in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court on Thursday morning, before which the INLD chief had reached the court in a wheelchair.

Appearing on his behalf, advocate Harsh Kumar Sharma apprised the court that Chautala was 90 per cent physically disabled and was also suffering from an infection in his lungs. Seeking lenient punishment, Chautala’s counsel also told the court that he could not even change his clothes on his own and constantly needed an attendant to even move around. Chautala’s counsel also pleaded that his disability had increased from 60 per cent to 90 per cent in the recent years and thus a lenient view should be considered. The court then asked Chautala to produce his physical-disability certificate.

Defence counsel Sharma also pleaded that the period that Chautala served in Tihar jail as part of his sentence in the JBT teachers recruitment scam should also be considered as a sentence undergone in the current case of disproportionate assets.

The prosecution’s counsel Ajay Gupta, however, contended that an “exemplary punishment” should be awarded to the convict.

“He has remained a former Chief Minister. The sentence awarded to him should be exemplary. If lawmakers commit crimes, what message shall we send to the public. The strictest punishment and a hefty fine should be imposed on the convict. People look up to you [Om Prakash Chautala]. Your [Chautala’s] decisions are followed. If you commit such crimes, what lessons will people learn from you,” the
CBI’s counsel said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had probed the case, had filed the chargesheet against Chautala on March 26, 2010. The agency contended that between 1993 and 2006, the seven-time MLA had amassed assets worth over Rs 6.09 crore, wealth far exceeding his known sources of income. The Chautala family had slammed the case as “political vendetta”.

In 2019, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached his assets worth Rs 3.68 crore, including his flat and plots in New Delhi, Panchkula and Sirsa, under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

This is Om Prakash Chautala’s second conviction after being pronounced guilty by the Supreme Court in 2013 in the JBT teachers’ recruitment scam and sentenced to seven years in jail on corruption charges and 10 years in prison for criminal conspiracy. Chautala was released from Tihar jail on July 2 last year after completing his sentence in the case. Since his release, Chautala had been active and had even started touring the rural areas of Haryana in a bid to revive the INLD.