NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday pulled up the CBI for “casting aspersions” on the Bengal judiciary, after hearing the probe agency’s petition seeking a direction to transfer cases related to the 2021 post-poll violence in Bengal to another state.
A two-judge bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih questioned the CBI over its claim that “the entire (state) judiciary is under a hostile environment”.
“This is not correct. This is casting aspersions that the entire judiciary is under hostile environment,” the bench questioned the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, representing the agency.
The CBI moved SC, seeking to transfer the cases to another state, citing concerns of witness intimidation, and threats to the course of justice.
During the hearing, the court said that it was unfortunate that the Central agency had chosen to cast aspersions on West Bengal courts.
Taking a strong exception to the CBI’s plea, the court said, “…That all courts in West Bengal have hostile environment? The blanket averment is that courts are illegally granting bail. This is casting aspersions that the entire judiciary is under hostile environment,” Justice Oka asserted.
At this point, the ASG admitted that the petitions had some loose drafting. Although he wanted to withdraw the plea after the severe rap, the SC refused to accept a simple withdrawal. It threatened to issue a contempt notice to the lawyer responsible for drafting the plea.
The court observed that there were serious and scandalous allegations being made against all the courts in West Bengal. Repeatedly averring that a hostile environment is prevailing in the state courts, the SC said that it is unfortunate that CBI chose to cast aspersions on them. It finally dismissed the CBI’s plea and granted liberty to file a fresh petition.