'Unfortunate' : Supreme Court Slams CBI For Making 'Scandalous Allegations' Against All Courts In West Bengal
Amisha Shrivastava
20 Sep 2024 5:42 AM GMT
The Supreme Court on Friday (September 20) castigated the Central Bureau of Investigation for making "scandalous allegations" against the Courts in West Bengal while seeking transfer of the trial of the post-poll violence cases out of the State.
Following the strong criticism by the bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal, Additional Solicitor General of India SV Raju chose to withdraw the transfer petition.
"Mr. Raju what kind of grounds are taken in this? That all courts in West Bengal have hostile environment? Blanket averment that courts are illegally granting bail?. This is casting aspersions that the entire judiciary is under hostile environment," Justice Oka told ASG as soon as the matter was taken.
Raju admitted that there was some "loose drafting" in the petition and agreed to amend it. However, the bench said that the petition has to be withdrawn.
"Suppose we transfer matters then we are certifying that there is hostile atmosphere over all the courts in the state and courts are not functioning. Your officers may not like the judicial officer or a particular state but don't say that the entire judiciary is not functioning. The judges the district judges and civil judges and sessions judges can't come here and defend themselves," Justice Oka told the ASG.
The bench said that it was unfortunate that the Central Agency has chosen to cast aspersion on Courts in West Bengal.
"Scandalous allegations have been made against all the courts in general in West Bengal. Repeatedly averred that there is a hostile environment prevailing in the courts. It is very unfortunate that the Central Agency has chosen to cast aspersions on courts in West Bengal," the bench observed in the order
"Learned ASG states that there was no intention to cast aspersions. However the averment are to the contrary. He seeks permission to withdraw. We make it clear that all objections to the proposed transfer are expressly kept open," the bench added.
The transfer petition was filed in December last year seeking to relocate the cases outside of West Bengal due to alleged concerns of witness intimidation and threats to the course of justice. The Court had issued notice on the petition in February this year.
Case : Central Bureau of Investigation v. State of West Bengal & Ors. | Diary No. 51357 of 2023
Citation : 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 732
