3 min readNew DelhiApr 25, 2019 02:29 PM IST
First published on: Apr 25, 2019 at 11:49 AM IST
On April 20, CJI Gogoi had convened an “extraordinary” sitting of the court following reports about sexual harassment allegations against him (REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo)
The Supreme Court Thursday hit out at what it said were “systematic” attempts to influence the course of justice delivery and said, “time has come when we have to tell the rich and powerful of this country – you cannot run this court”.
The words fell from Justice Arun Mishra who sitting with Justices R F Nariman and Deepak Gupta while hearing allegations by a lawyer Utsav Bains that there was a conspiracy by fixers and disgruntled employees of the court to frame Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on sexual harassment charges.
The court which reserved its order in the matter referred to the allegation by Bains about gangs of fixers operating in courts. Justice Mishra said “these things are happening in the country since long. So many things are going on. Fixing thing is so serious…”. The court will pronounce its order in the latter at 2 pm today.
“Don’t think Supreme Court can be run by any remote power from any corner of the earth, whether by political power or economic power”, Justice Mishra fumed,
“This is a systematic game…So many things have not come out…People of this country must know the truth”, Justice Mishra continued.
The judge condemned the practice of writing letters when matters are pending and said this was to influence the courts.
“People run by money power try to influence the Registry…Take action against anyone and they will malign…”, he said adding “this can’t go on”.
This court was made by the likes of Fali Nariman, Nani Palkhiwala, K. Parasaran. This is your institution and not ours….”, he observes.
Justice Mishra said that “Whenever we start hearing big cases involving big people, these things happen…Attempts are made to influence us by writing letters”.
He said “we are worried as judges what is happening here”. Solicitor General Tishar Mehta pressed for an SIT inquiry monitored by the court. The bench said it will decide what course has to be adopted.
On April 20, CJI Gogoi had convened an “extraordinary” sitting of the court following reports about sexual harassment allegations against him (REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo)
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