By IANS,
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Tuesday rejected the plea for anticipatory bail by former test cricketer Jacob Martin accused of being allegedly involved in human trafficking.
The apex court bench of Justice Harjit Singh Bedi and Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad, while rejecting the plea, said: “You are a cricketer. You take cricket teams for trafficking.”
When senior counsel Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for Martin, told the court that his client took the cricket team only once in 2003 and all but one of the 17 players returned to the country, the court said: “You are also a proclaimed offender.”
“Your (Jacob Martin) conduct all through have been cantankerous,” the court observed.
The court declined to grant Martin even a day’s reprieve from arrest.
Dwivedi argued that if some time was not extended, then Martin would be in breach of one week’s time granted by the Delhi High Court for surrendering before the police.
The court said: “You are already in the breach of that deadline of seven days (set by the high court).”
Jacob Martin took a cricket squad of 17 players to the UK in 2003 and, according to him, 16 of the 17 players returned to the country.
He told the court that the 17th player too returned subsequently, but vanished when he again went to England in 2004.
Martin said that his entire track record showed that he was not involved in human trafficking and was being penalised just for one instance.
Not impressed by the case, the court asked him to submit before the law.