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Notice to Jharkhand IG

New Delhi: Shocked at the assault on B.V. Rao, judicial member of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Bangalore Bench, allegedly at the instance of Jharkhand Inspector-General of Police Nirmala Choudhary in Ranchi, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered suo motu notice to the Centre and the State government.

Treating Mr. Rao’s letter Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan as a petition, a Bench consisting of him and Justice R.V. Raveendran also issued notice to Ms. Choudhary. It is alleged that she asked eight policemen to assault Mr. Rao on the night of February 21 during his stay in a guest house.

Mr. Rao was in Ranchi to head a two-member CAT Bench, which sits there for a week once a month.

Jharkhand, which was carved out of Bihar in 2000, is yet to have a separate CAT Bench.

The All-India Bar Association, while thanking the Chief Justice for initiating action, urged the Central and State governments to immediately place under suspension the police personnel responsible for the ugly incident.

In a statement, AIBA chairman Adish Agarwala and vice-chairman S. Prabhakaran alleged that the IG called Mr. Rao a terrorist and ordered her bodyguards to pull him by the collar and throw him out of the guest house. His room was searched and his belongings were thrown out.

Condemning the inhuman treatment meted out to a judicial member, the All-India Bar Association wanted the Chief Justice to institute a permanent mechanism to address the frequent attacks on lawyers, including members of the judiciary.

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