Coming down heavily on CBI’s former interim chief M. Nageswara Rao, the Supreme Court found the CBI chief guilty of contempt in the transfer of the agency’s officer who was investigating a case of alleged sexual abuse of minor in a shelter home in Muzaffarpur in Bihar. There was a court order against the transfer. Surpassing the court order, the CBI chief had transferred officer A.K Sharma.
Pulling up Nageswara Rao, Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, said that the CBI is guilty of contempt of court and needs to pay a fine of Rs. 1 lakh. On the other hand, attorney general K.K. Venugopal who is CBI counsel said that Rao did not do it willingly and that it has been an “error of judgment by him due to work pressure.”
However, the Chief Justice did not spare CBI’s counsel and said: “Mr Attorney, let us be very clear. I don’t think any of us ever had the occasion to invoke a contempt power. But it has to be the first time. Speaking for myself, I believe dignity and majesty of court should be maintained and this is blatant,” an angry CJI Gogoi said. “Go to one corner of court and sit down till court rises,” Gogoi ordered.
The Bench earlier pointed out that the transfer decision was based on contempt despite there being court orders hat he should not be shifted. A.K. Sharma is a join director in the CBI and was the senior-most officer involved in investigation the Bihar shelter home case. The case was taken up by the CBI after a report by TISS highlighted that several girls in the shelter home were being sexually abused.
