‘Realise my mistake’: CBI’S Rao to SC on Muzaffarpur
STERN Ex-interim CBI chief was pulled up for transferring an official supervising the probe
NEWDELHI: M Nageswara Rao, the former interim chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on Monday tendered an unconditional apology before the Supreme Court for transferring out of the agency joint director AK Sharma, a senior official supervising a case of alleged sexual abuse of minors in a shelter home in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur.
In an affidavit, Rao said he cannot even “dream of violating court’s orders”. “I sincerely realise my mistake, and while tendering my unqualified and unconditional apology specifically, I state that I have wilfully not violated the orders of this Hon’ble court, as I cannot even dream of violating or circumventing the orders of this Hon’ble court,” read Rao’s affidavit.
Last week, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi termed the transfer decision “full contempt of court” because one of its earlier orders explicitly said Sharma should not be shifted. The court summoned Rao and the agency’s acting director of prosecution S Bhasuran on February 12. It also asked the CBI director to identify officers who were involved in the transfer of Sharma from CBI. The top court is likely to take up Rao’s affidavit on Tuesday.
Bhasuran, too, tendered an apology. “Without in any manner trying to justify my actions, I beg to submit that, at present, I am the only serving additional legal advisor currently working with the CBI, despite there being 8 sanctioned posts of ALA. I am also currently working as Director of Prosecution, CBI, after the retirement of the earlier incumbent holding the post. As such, perhaps on account of the pressure of work, there was a lapse and error of judgment on my part, as I did not correctly appreciate the purport of the orders of the court,” Bhasuran said in another affidavit.
Sharma, a joint director in the CBI, was the senior-most supervising officer in the horrific Bihar shelter home case and the court, in two orders dated October 31 and November 28, said he should not be transferred. After his transfer, Sharma was appointed the additional director general in the CRPF. Records placed before the court indicated that Bhasuran had given an opinion favouring the transfer.
A report by TISS had highlighted that dozens of girls lodged at a government funded-shelter home in Muzaffarpur were allegedly being sexually assaulted. NEWDELHI: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday sought adjournment of hearing on the contentious Article 35A case, which was expected to be taken up by the Supreme Court this week.
M Shoeb Alam, the standing counsel of the Jammu and Kashmir government in the Supreme Court, filed a note before the top court’s secretary general, requesting postponement of the hearing. The matter was listed for February 12.
In the letter, Alam submitted that the state “will be seeking adjournment in the matter because there is presently no elected government in Jammu and Kashmir and the State is under President’s Rule”.
“The present matter involves a sensitive issue regarding a challenge to Article 35A of the Constitution of India. A short reply has been filed by the State of Jammu and Kashmir in the lead matter and notices have not been issued in the other petitions. It will therefore be requested that the matter may kindly be heard when an elected government is in place,” the letter reads.
Article 35A, incorporated in the Constitution by a 1954 Presidential Order, accords special rights and privileges to the citizens of J&K and denies property rights to a woman who marries a person from outside the state. The provision also applies to children of such women marrying non-state subjects.
If a woman from Jammu and Kashmir marries a non-permanent resident (in simple words a man from other states), her husband and children will not get permanent resident certificate, but if a man from J&K marries a woman from other states, she and her children automatically become citizens of the state and get all the privileges under Article 35A.
SHOEB ALAM, STANDING COUNSEL OF THE J&K GOVERNMENT, FILED A NOTE REQUESTING POSTPONEMENT OF THE HEARING