Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court on Friday came
down heavily on CBI for giving "differential" treatment to the
accused in Dara Singh fake encounter killing case in which a
DIG and a BJP MLA were among those arrested, saying the
agency`s objectives have been compromised and it was high time
it was "shut down".
"It appears that accused in the same case are being given
differential treatment by CBI.
"You people salute an accused, offer him tea and coffee
and land him behind the bars facilitating his judicial custody
whereas the same CBI gets police custody of other accused
persons for the maximum time period in the same case," said
the single bench of bench of Justice Mahesh Chandra Sharma
said.
"The aims and objectives with which CBI was established
have been compromised and the CBI is proving counterproductive
to these objects and its high time when the agency needs to be
shut down," the court observed.
The stinging remarks by the bench came on a petition
filed by a head constable, Jagram, who was allegedly part of
the police team that killed a liquor mafia member of Churu
Dara Singh in October 2006. The cop, who has been been in jail
for 11 months, accused the CBI of delaying the trial and
sought speedy justice.
13 people have been arrested in the case so far. AK Jain,
the then DGP (Crime) who surrendered before the court in the
case, was remanded in custody for 13 days.
It was contended by Ajay Kumar Jain, counsel for Jagram,
that the special public prosecutor SK Saxena appointed by the
CBI resides in Delhi and the CBI court is adjusting dates of
trial as per the availability of the CBI lawyer.
He claimed only non-material witnesses are being summoned
by CBI and his prayer to call material witness was rejected by
the CBI court judge.
"This is travesty of justice," the court said.
"We fail to understand how CBI can give a go-by to the
humanitarian view of the fact that an accused is languishing
in jail for more than 11 months and the CBI is all out to
deliberately delay the trial.
"An accused has a right of speedy trial, whether he will
be punished or not is yet to be seen but he cannot be denied a
speedy justice.
"We deem it proper to discharge duties of special public
prosecutor of CBI SK Saxena but would like to hear him before
doing so," observed Justice Sharma.
CBI counsel TP Sharma and special prosecutor Sarfaraz
Ahmed tried to convince the bench that the CBI is working
properly under law but the bench directed that advocate SK
Saxena, counsel for CBI from Delhi, be directed to remain
present in court on Monday, April 9.
"We have no faith in CBI now as they have themselves
impeached their own credibility by their conduct which this
court has occasion to see in recent controversial cases like
Goplagarh, we cannot deny a fair and speedy trial to any
accused," Justice Sharma said.
BJP MLA Rathore was arrested and sent to jail on
Thursday by CBI court on charges of hatching the entire
conspiracy of fake encounter. The CBI did not seek his remand
for interrogation and filed a supplementary charge sheet.
Late in evening, the CBI issued a press release stating,
"CBI will clarify to the Hon`ble Court and clear any doubts
and assure the court that CBI is working with utmost
integrity."
PTI
