\u201cOne can\u2019t stigmatise the judiciary,\u201d the Supreme Court Tuesday said, slamming the CBI for casting aspersions on the subordinate judiciary in Gujarat while seeking the transfer of the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh killing\u2019s trial outside the state.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice R.P. Desai pulled up the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) when Additional Advocate General of Gujarat Tushar Mehta drew the court\u2019s attention to a controversial paragraph in the transfer petition.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The investigating agency\u2019s trial transfer plea said that the accused, who include former minister Amit Shah, had their kith and kin in Gujarat\u2019s subordinate judiciary which could result in miscarriage of justice.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a highly irresponsible statement. Have you asked for initiation of contempt proceedings,\u201d the court observed when Mehta drew its attention to the CBI plea.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The investigating agency\u2019s petition said that when Shah was presented in a Gujarat court \u201cthere was open servility and excessive demonstration of favourable and partisan attitude to Amit Shah by the learned chief judicial magistrate\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is totally wrong, wholly irresponsible and impermissible (to say) that judiciary at the lowest rung was toeing some political line. There may be one or two isolated incidents,\u201d the court said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cSeparation of power is a reality. There may be one or two isolated incidents. But to say that judiciary at the lowest rung was toeing some political line is completely nonsense,\u201d the court said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Appreciating the \u201cgood job\u201d which the high courts were doing in \u201cinsulating\u201d the subordinate judiciary from any political influence, the apex court said: \u201cOne can\u2019t stigmatise the judiciary.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Faced with the court\u2019s anger, Additional Solicitor General Vivek Tankha, appearing for the investigating agency, told the court that he was not pressing this ground of the case transfer petition.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The court asked Mehta: \u201cAccused can have objection (to the petition seeking transfer of trial outside Gujarat) but what is your (Gujarat government\u2019s) objection.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If the impression was sought to be generated that the \u201cstate is not taking steps for a conducive atmosphere for a free, fair and impartial trial and the judicial institutions in the state are not capable of delivery justice then the state has to oppose such a plea\u201d, Mehta told the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight from the trial court to the (Gujarat) High Court all the orders passed were in accordance with the law,\u201d Mehta told the court.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He described as a \u201ccoincidence\u201d when the apex court asked how come the investigation into the Navrangpura firing at Popular Builder\u2019s office, in which Sohrabuddin Sheikh was allegedly involved, travelled from local police to the crime detection wing of the crime branch and then to the anti-terrorist squad as Gujarat police officer D.G. Vanzara was transferred to these agencies.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Vanzara is in judicial custody for his alleged involvement in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh killing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cOne can\u2019t stigmatise the judiciary,\u201d the Supreme Court Tuesday said, slamming the CBI for casting aspersions on the subordinate judiciary in Gujarat while seeking the transfer of the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh killing\u2019s trial outside the state. An apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice R.P. Desai pulled up the Central Bureau of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[6026,6025,215,2391,5845,47726],"class_list":["post-15068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-law-news","tag-2005-sohrabuddin-sheikh-killings","tag-cant-stigmatise-judiciary","tag-cbi","tag-justice-aftab-alam","tag-justice-r-p-desai","tag-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\n