Supreme Court rejects Phoolan's plea to shift cases to MP

Phoolan Devi received yet another setback on Friday when the Supreme Court rejected her plea to transfer the trial of cases of murder and dacoity allegedly committed by her from Uttar Pradesh to Madhya Pradesh.

Earlier, the court rejected her petition seeking quashing of all the 57 cases of murder and dacoity committed by her more than a decade ago. The court had also refused to grant her bail.

Her transfer plea was dismissed by a bench comprising Justices J S Verma and S P Kurudkar when it came up for hearing. She had sought transfer of these cases on the ground that the atmosphere in the Kanpur court where she was being tried was volatile and she would not get a fair trial there.

Justice Verma observed, ''We do not not agree with her that there is any apprehension about a fair trial in Uttar Pradesh. She is a people's representative from Mirzapur. If she can stop the Rajdhani Express whenever she wants, then why does she speak of an unfair trial in Uttar Pradesh?''

Phoolan Devi's counsel submitted that in case she was not granted bail she would be lodged in a jail and would have to be brought to court whenever a trial was to take place.

To this argument, Justice Verma retorted, ''the person under trial, howsoever high, he or she cannot prescribe under what conditions she or he should be tried.''

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