Complainant in 30-year-old triple murder case faces contempt case for alleging judicial bias
Allegations deemed contemptuous, with Special CBI Judge stating that ‘the dignity of the judicial system cannot be allowed to become a casualty at the hands of such unscrupulous litigants’
A Delhi court has referred to the High Court a case of criminal contempt of court against the complainant and brother of one of the victims in a 30-year-old triple murder case after he claimed that the trial court was biased and that he had no faith in it to deliver justice.
The case involves the alleged abduction and murder of three men in 1994, with former Punjab Director General of Police S.S. Saini and three other policemen facing prosecution.
The allegations of the complainant, Ashish Kumar, were deemed contemptuous, with Special CBI Judge Sunena Sharma stating that “the dignity of the judicial system cannot be allowed to become a casualty at the hands of such unscrupulous litigants”.
During a hearing on July 25, Mr. Ashish said he had “no hope of justice from this court and would wait to die as only God will give him justice”. He also mentioned that his mother had died waiting for justice.
According to the CBI, Mr. Saini conspired with the other accused policemen — Sukh Mohinder Singh Sandhu, Paramjit Singh, and Balbir Chand Tiwari — to settle a personal score against the victims: automobile businessman Vinod Kumar, his brother-in-law Ashok Kumar, and their driver Mukhtiyar Singh.
While Vinod and Mukhtiyar were allegedly picked up from the parking lot of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Ashok was abducted from Ludhiana on March 15, 1994. The CBI, which registered a case on April 18, 1994, has alleged that the three men were murdered at the behest of Mr. Saini. The Supreme Court transferred the case to Delhi in 2004.
Mr. Ashish had earlier sought transfer of the case to another judge, questioning the “neutrality and impartiality of the court”. The Special CBI Judge had recused herself from hearing the case in May this year, but the Principal and District Judge of Rouse Avenue District Court referred the case back to her court.
When directed to maintain decorum inside the courtroom, Mr. Ashish allegedly said he would stop coming to the court as it “has been sold” and “already prepared the verdict to acquit all the accused”.
Referring the case of criminal contempt of court against Mr. Ashish to the High Court, the judge said, “The conduct of the complainant is blatantly contemptuous as by raising allegations he has made a wanton attack on the system of administration of justice.”
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