Trial comes to a halt as HC admits Yadav plea

Significantly,the entire trial court record has been summoned by the High Court,bringing the trial to a grinding halt.

This means that once again arguments on framing of charges,as already done in the CBI court,will be rehearsed in the High Court. Two years after the CBI had filed a chargesheet (March 3,2011) against Yadav,the CBI court had decided to frame charges against Yadav and other accused.

However,even before the CBI court could frame charges against her,the former Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge had petitioned the High Court,demanding quashing of the trial court’s orders.

Notwithstanding the directions that the petition be heard within three months,legal experts say an admitted petition takes far longer to come up for regular hearing. Till the time the High Court decides on Yadav’s petition,the trial will not commence in the special CBI court,Chandigarh.

As the petition filed by Yadav on Friday came up for resumed hearing,her counsel S K Garg Narwana contended that there was no direct evidence against Justice Yadav in the case. Yadav,in her petition,has contended that the entire approach of the trial court is “illegal,erroneous and untenable in the eyes of law”.

In a damaging judgment,special CBI Judge Vimal Kumar,on July 31,had ruled that there was “overwhelming evidence” against Yadav and other accused in the scam. In a 63-page judgment,the special CBI judge had rejected the defence taken by Yadav and co-accused as “untenable”.

The CBI court had pointed out the “direct contradictions” between the statements of Justice Yadav and other accused. “Justice Nirmal Yadav has denied all facts dated August 13,2008 and August 14,2008 in toto,although other accused have admitted the same to some extent,” read the order of the lower court.

The scam had come to light on August 13,2008,when an amount of Rs 15 lakh was wrongly delivered at the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur. She had called the Chandigarh Police and got the packet seized. The money,according to the CBI,was then delivered to Justice Nirmal Yadav at her residence on the morning of August 14,2008. The money was got delivered by lawyer and co-accused Sanjiv Bansal through his business partner Rajiv Gupta. The money was delivered as was asked by Ravinder Singh,a Delhi businessman and close friend of Justice Yadav.

On March 3,2011,a day before she retired as a judge of the Uttarakhand High Court,the CBI had chargesheeted her in the scam. Yadav was the first-ever sitting High Court judge in the country to be chargesheeted in a corruption case.

‘Deeply distressed… can’t have a dual approach’

“I am deeply distressed by the High Court’s order passed on Friday. It betrays an insensitivity to judicial corruption that cannot be viewed with equanimity,” said senior lawyer Anupam Gupta,special public prosecutor for the CBI. “The High Court cannot have a dual approach — one for judges and another for all other accused. Would the High Court have passed this order if the principal accused had not been a former High Court judge?”