Sharma had sought a direction from the apex court to the Centre to find the whereabouts of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s body. Netaji had disappeared in 1945 towards the end of World War II leading to speculation over his death. Despite setting up of two commissions by the Indian government to go into the possible causes of his death, it still remains a mystery. He had taken help of the Nazis and Japan to set up the Indian National Army to liberate India from British rule.
A bench of Chief Justice R M Lodha and Justices Kurian Joseph and RF Nariman allowed Sharma, dressed in lawyer’s uniform with forked band neatly tied to his white shirt collar, to go the full distance in arguing the PIL and explaining why he filed the habeas corpus (produce the body) petition.
Hopeless petition: SC
At the end of his argument, Sharma got an unexpected order. “We find the petition hopeless and frivolous. Such petitions should not only be dismissed but exemplary cost should be awarded for wasting the court’s time,” the bench said and quantified the cost at Rs 1 lakh.
Immediately, there was a torrent of apology from Sharma, who was also pulled up by the bench for violating rules by choosing to appear in lawyer’s uniform despite arguing as ‘petitioner in person’.
But Sharma kept apologizing, expressing inability to pay the hefty sum. He had been recently asked to pay cost of Rs 25,000 for another PIL. The bench reduced the cost to Rs 50,000 but sternly told Sharma that he could not go on filing frivolous PILs and think of getting away light by apologizing profusely.
