The Centre today asked the Supreme Court to initiate contempt proceedings against former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah and his lawyer Ram Jethmalani for questioning the impartiality of the judge who ordered a CBI probe in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising said the allegation of conspiracy among the judge (Justice Tarun Chatterjee,now retired),the Centre and the CBI made by Shah amounts to contempt of court. The alleged interest of the judge whether personal or otherwise is not only fanciful but the averments to that effect are nothing short of contempt of this court, she said before a Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai. She was referring to the contentions of Shah who alleged that the CBI was used by the Centre and,in this conspiracy,the possible bias of the judge played a critical role for getting the case transferred to the agency. Questioning the order of January 12,2010,senior advocate Jethmalani,appearing for Shah,said at the time of passing the order,the judge was under scrutiny of the CBI in the Ghaziabad Provident Fund scam and should have recused himself from hearing the fake encounter case. The Centre,while refuting all allegations,said the politician,a close aide of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi,has failed to produce any evidence to substantiate the claim. Jaising said the statement made by Jethmalani that the judge was given a cushy job by the Central government after retirement is baseless and false. The petition alleges a conspiracy by the Centre,the CBI and,by innuendo,this court,whether knowingly or otherwise. The said averment in the recall application is contemptuous. The affidavit of the applicant as well as the conduct of the counsel who has settled the pleading are in contempt of court and this court should initiate suo motu contempt proceeding against them, the ASG said. She said there was no need to recall last year's order directing CBI probe in the fake encounter case and it is tradition that criminal cases involving high rank police officials of state are handed over to the Central agency. She said the allegations are fanciful,self serving and smokescreen to get the recall order. Jethmalani,who was sitting in the court room,intervened in the middle of Jaising's arguments saying he is not going to withdraw his contentions and is ready to face any consequences. The ASG then replied,Let Jethmalani spell out in specific terms what was the interest of the judge in the outcome of the case. At the beginning of today proceedings,the accused in the fake encounter case also raised objection to the CBI inquiry. They submitted that in recent years trial of cases were transferred only from states which are being ruled by the parties sitting in Opposition at the Centre. The court was hearing a petition filed by the CBI challenging Gujarat High Court's order granting bail to Shah and it also sought transfer of the trail outside the state.Shah was arrested by the CBI on July 25 last year and had spent over three months in Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad. He has been accused by the agency of being the kingpin of the conspiracy leading to the fake encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in November 2005. His wife Kausarbi and Tulsiram Prajapati,said to be his accomplice,were also killed later. During the last hearing,Shah had contended before the apex court that he was implicated in the case because the Centre wanted to destabilise the Narendra Modi government. Sohrabuddin and his wife were allegedly abducted by the Gujarat's Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) from Hyderabad. Prajapati was also subsequently eliminated allegedly by ATS to destroy evidence as he was an eye witness,according to CBI. Earlier,the Supreme Court had rapped the CBI for making insinuations that Gujarat's trial courts and its judges were partial towards Shah in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case,saying it was complete nonsense and contemptuous. CBI's assertion in its petition that the accused in the case have presence of their kith and kin in the subordinate judiciary in various capacities as prosecutors,magistrates as well as judges termed as highly irresponsible statement. How do you (CBI) make such a statement, the Bench had said adding let us know whether you want to retain it (allegations against judicial system) or you want to delete it, the Bench wanted to know from the law officer. Why you said so? It's contemptuous. Why and how did you say this?," the Bench had asked and went on to observe that in our system there is a separation of power and judiciary is independent and to say that judiciary even at the lower rank will toe the political line is complete nonsense.
