Investigating agencies in the country do not respond when judges complain about threats they receive, Chief Justice NV Ramana said on Friday, Bar and Bench reported.
He made the observations when the Supreme Court was looking into the death of Additional District and Sessions Judge Uttam Anand in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, last week.
“If an adverse order is passed, then judiciary is maligned,” Ramana said. “If judges file a complaint to police or [the] CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] they do not respond. [The] Intelligence Bureau and [the] CBI is not helping judiciary at all.”
Judge Anand was allegedly murdered in a hit-and-run incident on July 28 while he was on his morning jog. CCTV footage of the incident showed an auto-rickshaw suddenly swerving towards the 49-year-old, who was walking on an empty road, and hitting him. The vehicle, which was reportedly stolen, then drove away.
Anand had been hearing the murder case of Ranjay Singh, who was a close aide of former Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Sanjiv Singh. He had also rejected the bail applications of suspected shooters Abhinav Singh and Ravi Thakur. They have links to gangster Aman Singh, who is in jail for the killing of Dhanbad’s former Deputy Mayor Niraj Singh, according to The Telegraph.
During Friday’s hearing, Ramana and Justice Surya Kant said they had expected a change in attitude of the Central Bureau of Investigation, Live Law reported. “But there has been no change,” the chief justice told Attorney General KK Venugopal. “We are very sorry to observe that.”
Ramana said he was making these observations with “full sense of responsibility”. He also said that judges were threatened via intimidating messages on WhatsApp and social media posts in cases involving gangsters and high-profile accused.
Speaking about the death of Anand, he said it was an “unfortunate case” and security should be provided to judges. “It is state’s failure,” he added.
On July 30, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of Anand’s death after the CCTV footage raised suspicion of foul play.
Rajiv Ranjan, the advocate general of Jharkhand government, said the Central Bureau of Investigation has taken over the inquiry into the case. “So you have washed off your hands,” the chief justice said. Ranjan, however, said the central agency was entrusted with the matter as it has cross-border implications.
The bench asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to inform the court about the progress of the inquiry on Monday.
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