‘South Group label arbitrary, unwarranted’

New Delhi: A court on Friday took strong exception to the repeated use of the phrase South Group by CBI in its chargesheet in the liquor policy case. The selective adoption of a geographically defined label was "plainly arbitrary and unwarranted" and raises concerns about fairness in criminal proceedings guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, special judge Jitendra Singh of Rouse Avenue Courts said.The term traces back to a July 2022 report submitted by the then Delhi chief secretary Naresh Kumar to lieutenant governor VK Saxena, alleging lapses in the now-scrapped excise policy. According to it, Vijay Nair, AAP's then communication in-charge, was allegedly paid Rs 100 crore in advance kickbacks by a "South Group" comprising Hyderabad-based entities. In return, it was claimed, the group was granted "undue favours".
While acquitting all accused, the court noted, "Such a nomenclature finds no foundation in law, does not correspond to any legally cognisable classification, and is wholly alien to the statutory framework governing criminal liability." It pointed out that no comparable regional descriptor, such as "North Group", had been employed for others. Emphasising that the issue was not merely semantic, the court warned, "Region-based labelling... detracts from the settled requirement that criminal proceedings must remain dispassionate, evidence-centric and insulated from extraneous considerations."Clarifying that the court's reference to the term was only to summarise the prosecution's case, it cautioned against treating it as endorsement.