Noting gravity of the matter, the Supreme Court Monday asked the Jharkhand High Court Chief Justice to monitor weekly the CBI probe into the alleged mowing down of a judge by a vehicle on July 28 in Dhanbad, and observed that the sealed cover report of the central agency did not have any detail. The apex court also referred to the alarming situation in the country where judicial officers and lawyers are being pressurized and intimidated, and said there was an institutional need to create an environment where judicial officers feel safe and secure.
A CCTV footage showed that District and Sessions Judge-8 of Dhanbad court, Uttam Anand, was jogging on one side of a fairly wide road at Randhir Verma Chowk early on July 28 when a heavy auto-rickshaw veered towards him, hit him from behind and fled the scene. He was declared dead by the hospital.
Taking into account the gravity of the matter, we deem it appropriate to direct the Central Bureau of Investigation to file a report before the High Court of Jharkhand every week and we further request the Chief Justice of the said High Court to monitor the investigation, a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said in the order. The Jharkhand government has transferred the probe to the CBI. The bench, also comprising justices Vineet Saran and Surya Kant, further said: Apart from the specific incident in question, this Court had also taken up this matter to take note of attempt(s) to resolve the alarming situation in the country where judicial officers and lawyers are being pressurized and intimidated by threats of, and/or actual violence.
“There is, therefore, an institutional need to create an environment where judicial officers feel safe and secure.
The larger aspect, related to threats to judicial officers and lawyers, would be taken up with a pending plea of 2019 on the issue and ordered that the replies be placed on record, the top court said.
At the outset of the hearing, the bench referred to the sealed cover report of the CBI filed in connection with the probe into the death of the judge at Dhanbad and observed: We have seen the report. There is nothing in this sealed cover. We want something concrete. The arrest and seizure of the vehicle have been done by the state, you have not indicated anything about intention motive anything.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, said that it has recently been handed over the probe and the two arrested persons are under interrogation. We cannot divulge the details of the investigation. The bench then inquired about the next date of hearing before the Jahrakhand High Court and proceeded to dictate the order asking the chief justice to weekly monitor the CBI probe into the case.
On August 6, the CJI-led bench had expressed concern over the incidents of judges getting threats and abusive messages and had said that Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the CBI are not helping the judiciary at all and there is no freedom to a judicial officer to even make such complaints. It had said there are several criminal cases involving gangsters and high-profile persons and at some places, judges of the trial courts as well as high courts are being threatened not only physically but also mentally through abusive messages on Whatsapp or Facebook.
Prior to this, the top court had on July 30 taken suo motu cognizance of the unfortunate sad demise of the judge in gruesome incident and had sought a status report within a week from Jharkhand’s Chief Secretary and the DGP on probe. While taking the cognizance of the case, it had made it clear that it was not interfering in the proceedings going on before the High Court of Jharkhand and rather taken note of the similar incidents across country. The Jharkhand High Court had also ordered an SIT probe into the death of Anand, under the leadership of Additional Director General of Police Sanjay Latkar.
The Jharkhand police had arrested two persons, auto driver Lakhan Verma and his helper Rahul Verma, in connection with the case. The arrests were made following the recovery of the three-wheeler involved in the incident, Senior Superintendent of Police, Dhanbad, Sanjiv Kumar, had said, adding that the three-wheeler recovered from Giridih is registered in a woman’s name.
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