The alleged murder of a Jharkhand district judge on a Dhanbad street on Wednesday figured in the Supreme Court on corridors, with the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) raising the issue of“independence of the judiciary” and seeking a CBI probe for the same.
Mr Singh said that if a judge got killed after rejecting a gangster’s bail plea, “this is a dangerous situation for the judiciary” and the matter highlighted the need for judges’ protection.
Additional district judge Uttam Anand, who had denied bail to two alleged gangsters last week, was jogging around 5 am on a two-lane road near Dhanbad city’s Magistrate Colony when an auto-rickshaw hit him from behind. He died in hospital. Initially it was thought a hit-and-run but the family lodged an FIR for murder after the police showed them the CCTV footage. A video clip on social media, which officials have confirmed as leaked CCTV footage, shows a man jogging by the roadside when an auto swerves sharply from the middle of the lane, knocks him down and speeds away. Jharkhand police said two youths had been arrested on Thursday morning and had “confessed” to hitting the judge with the auto but not admitted to the murder.
Judge Anand, a Hazaribagh native posted in Dhanbad six months ago, had been handling several cases of mafia killings in Dhanbad city. He had denied bail to Ravi Thakur and Anand Verma, suspected shooters who have been linked to alleged Uttar Pradesh gangsters Abhinav Singh and Aman Singh.
State advocate-general Rajiv Ranjan told reporters in Ranchi that the high court had appointed an additional director-general of police to lead a special investigation team (SIT) to conduct a probe that the high court would monitor.
The SCBA president had first raised the matter before the apex court bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah on Thursday, seeking a probe into the suspected murder.
“If the judiciary has to be independent we have to come in very sternly to say that our judicial officers should be protected. The SCBA wants this to be taken up on the judicial side,” Vikas Singh said.
But Justice Chandrachud said the matter should be mentioned before the CJI. When Singh did so, Justice Ramana said: “The high court has issued a notice to the police and district officials. They are hearing this matter today. Let them handle it. It does not require interference by us. I have spoken to the chief justice this morning.”
Image source: The Telegraph online
