The Hindu : Warrant against President: CBI told to continue probe

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 14, 2004

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Warrant against President: CBI told to continue probe

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 13. The Supreme Court today directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to continue further investigation into the "cash-for-warrant" scam in Ahmedabad in which a Magistrate issued arrest warrants against the President. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the Chief Justice of India, V.N. Khare, the Supreme Court Judge, B.P. Singh, and a lawyer, R.K. Jain.

A three-Judge Bench of Justice Khare, Justice Brijesh Kumar and Justice S.H. Kapadia gave this direction after perusing the preliminary report submitted by the CBI stating that it required some more time to unearth the entire truth.

The Bench made it clear that the Magistrate, M.S. Brahma Bhatt, would be dealt with in accordance with the law as he was in the same league as that of advocates who obtained the warrants on payment of Rs. 40,000. The Bench asked the CBI to carry out further investigation and apprise the court of it by February 23.

The Bench issued notice to another Ahmedabad-based advocate A.K. Gadvi asking him to file his reply by February 23 on his alleged role in the issuance of warrants. The Bench was hearing a public interest litigation petition filed by journalist, Vijay Shekhar alleging that on payment of Rs. 40,000 arrest warrants were issued against the VVIPs.

In response to the notice, Mr. Bhatt, the Ahmedabad Criminal Bar Association president, Harish Bavaniwala, and advocates, Iqbal Katia and Narendra Chaudhary, had filed their responses.

The Bench took exception to the affidavit filed by Mr. Bhavaniwala stating that the court should "go slow and orderly" in the matter. Observing that the averments on the face of it were objectionable and insulting, the Bench said that it contemplated cross-examining him in the case. "What a cock and bull story he has narrated in the affidavit," the Chief Justice said but on the repeated requests of his counsel, Sushil Kumar, agreed to allow the Bar president to withdraw the affidavit.

When counsel for the Magistrate said that his client was the sole person suffering in the case as he had been suspended and requested for his discharge, the Chief Justice remarked: "You and others involved in it are of same colour. A Judge should get more and severe punishment on such type of conduct. Judges would not get any extra protection in such matters. You will be dealt with in accordance with the law. Do not argue for your discharge," he said.

The bench asked the Gujarat Government to file a status report detailing steps taken in a case of assault on journalists in the wake of the issue, and warned that it would consider transferring the case to CBI if "proper progress was not made." The Chief Justice wanted to know why the advocates first resorted to violence against the journalists and said that "it is a serious matter that journalists were beaten up while doing their professional work. If you beat someone up, it was natural that he would retaliate."

The Attorney-General, Soli J. Sorabjee, said that if the media went overboard, there were means to control it. "Media, lawyers, judges and the courts all constitute the pillars of democracy and there shall be no unnecessary confrontations," he added.

The Bench said that "time has come for the Bar to identify the black sheep sullying the image of the profession and do something to restore its past glory."

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