New Delhi: The Supreme Court, while giving a major relief to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa by acquitting her of all charges in the Tansi land scam case, pointed out that all was not done in a "gentleman's way" and she went to any extent to save her skin in the case.

Keeping in view the code of conduct adopted by the Tamil Nadu Government banning Chief Minister and Ministers from acquiring Government property, a Bench comprising Justice S Rajendra Babu and Justice P V Reddi wondered "in matters of such nature, is the code of conduct meant only to be kept as an 'ornamental relic' in a museum but not to be practised?"

"These aspects do worry our conscience. Jayalalithaa, in her anxiety to save her skin, went to any length even to deny her signature on documents which her auditor and other Government officials identified," the Bench said.

The apex court said that criminal law was meant to deal with criminals ordinarily, while code of conduct was observed as gentlemen's agreement.

"Persons in public life, who are gentlemen, follow such code instead of taking escape routes by resorting to technical pleas as arise in criminal cases," the Bench said.

Writing for the Bench, Justice Babu observed "persons in public life are expected to maintain very high standards of probity and, particularly, when there is likely to be even least bit of conflict of interest between the office one holds and the acts to be done by such person, ought to desist himself from indulging in the same".

PTI