After the brutal murder of 18-year-old Kuntal Sain on July 2, it is now the turn of the four accused to fight the case in the sub-divisional judicial magistrate’s court in Howrah. Twelve lawyers have agreed to plead for them.

A few days ago, though, no lawyer had agreed to take up the case of the four accused — Sampad Mukherjee, Jyotirmoy Mukherjee, Manjusha Mukherjee and Arijit Pal (now in judicial custody). On Tuesday, some lawyers agreed to take up the brief on their behalf.

“It is the legal right of the accused to hire lawyers for the case, as no charges have been proved yet,” said Sujit Kumar Chatterjee, one of the 12 lawyers.

Chatterjee stressed that though the police have tried their best to build a watertight case against the accused, unless the charges are proved before the court, no one can be labelled a killer. “We, too, want that the culprits be punished and the punishment should be exemplary. But this should be decided by the court,” Chatterjee added.

“The four have confessed to the murder before the magistrate, but when there is a law of the land, the crime must be proved with its help,” said one of the dozen lawyers.

It was learnt that the lawyers appearing for the four accused have been receiving threats to dissuade them from taking up the case.

Citing examples of a few people who, in spite of being accused of committing the most heinous crimes, were not denied legal help, Chatterjee said that the killer of Mahatma Gandhi, Nathuram Godse, too, had engaged a lawyer for himself when he was in the dock.

Rapist-killer Dhananjoy Chatterjee, too, had a lawyer to fight his case in the court.

Chatterjee added that in 1993, Brindeshwari Shaw was killed after some criminals poured four litres of nitric acid on her head on the Howrah court premises. The criminals who perpetrated the murder hired lawyers for legal proceedings in the Howrah district court.

Hence, said Chatterjee, “why can’t we stand for the accused before the court now?”

When the secretary of the criminal bar library, Bidhan Chandra Roy, was asked whether or not all accused persons can hire a lawyer, he replied: “Anyone who has committed a crime can hire lawyers for himself. It is his legal right and no one can force him not to engage lawyers.”