Chief Justice of India NV Ramana has made scathing observations about the role of the central government agencies such as the CBI and the IB saying that they were not helping in protecting the judiciary. CJI Ramana made the observations while hearing the killing of Jharkhand Additional District Judge Uttam Anand, who recently died after being run over by a speeding vehicle while he was on a morning walk.
CJI Ramana, according to Livelaw, said, “It’s a new trend in this country, unfortunately. There’s no freedom for Judge to complain. Even though judges complain to police or CBI they don’t respond. IB, CBI aren’t helping Judiciary at all. I’m making this statement with a sense of responsibility.”
The CJI said that he wanted to make abundantly clear that there had been several cases where gangsters and some high profile individuals were involved and judicial officers were threatened.
According to reports, Judge Anand was hearing high-profile cases involving gangsters when he was killed in a hit-and-run case. His murder was captured on a CCTV camera.
CJI Ramana: Its a new trend in this country unfortunately. There’s no freedom for Judge to complaint. Even though judges complaint to police or CBI they don’t respond. IB, CBI aren’t helping Judiciary at all. I’m making this statement with a sense of responsibility#SupremeCourt https://t.co/ifmyMsiY89
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) August 6, 2021
Lashing out at the CBI, CJI Ramana said, “One or two places courts ordered CBI inquiry. Its sad to say CBI has done nothing. We expected some change in CBI attitude there has been no change. We are sorry to observe that.”
Attorney General KK Venugopal, according to the Bar and Bench website, agreed with the CJI as he said that judges indeed needed to be protected from attacks and security has to be beefed up. “I have a list of judges who were attacked. Its time some strong measures are put in place,” the AG was quoted as saying.
An autorickshaw driver had spotted Judge Anand, who was lying in a pool of blood. He was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, where succumbed to his injuries.