Dubey case: If judge's relative belongs to political party, is it illegal, SC pulls up lawyer

If a relative of a judge belongs to a political party, can it be an illegal act, an irked Supreme Court said on Tuesday while pulling up the lawyer seeking reconstitution of the judicial commission set up to probe the killing of UP gangster Vikas Dubey in police encounter on similar ground. There are several judges who have Members of Parliament as relatives, the top court further observed and said that no aspersions can be cast on its former judge heading the judicial panel on the basis of newspaper reports.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde was hearing a plea seeking re-constitution of the inquiry commission and substituting its members -- Justice (retd) B S Chauhan, former Supreme Court judge, Justice (retd) Shashi Kant Agarwal and retired Uttar Pradesh DGP K L Gupta -- with other former judges of the apex court and retired DGPs. The bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, was told by petitioner Ghanshyam Upadhaya that brother of Justice Chauhan is an MLA in Uttar Pradesh and his daughter is married to a Member of Parliament.

The bench, which reserved its verdict on the application, asked Upadhaya whether any of the relatives of Justice Chauhan is connected with the incident or the inquiry and why he (Justice Chauhan) can't be fair. "There are judges whose father or brother or relatives are MPs. Are you saying that they all are biased judges? If any relative is belonging to a political party, is this an illegal act?", it said.

Upadhaya read out articles in various publications saying that they had raised questions on the inquiry being done by the judicial commission.   The bench said, "You know the law relating to newspaper reports. You can't cast aspersions on a former judge of this court on the basis of newspaper reports". It said Justice Chauhan has been a respected Supreme Court judge and he has been a High Court chief justice. "There was never a problem with his relatives. Why do you have a problem now?" Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Uttar Pradesh government, told the bench that the allegations raised by Upadhyay against the appointment of Justice Chauhan in the judicial commission are "derogatory". "He (upadhyay) is alleging that the commission selected by this court will cover up the incident. This is derogatory," it said.

Upadhyay said that Uttar Pradesh is becoming a state of encounters and it is upsetting the entire legal system. "There was an encounter of one Rajiv Pandey just a few days ago," he said.

To this the bench said, "You are making all kinds of allegations against a respected former judge of this court. He has been a former judge of this court and a former Chief Justice of the high court". The bench told Upadhyay that he was now arguing irrelevant things and said that there will be thousands of crimes committed in every state but what does that have to do with this Commission.

On July 30, Upadhyay had filed a fresh application seeking re-constitution of the inquiry commission. The top court had earlier dismissed an application seeking removal of two other members of the inquiry commission and had said that it would not allow the petitioner to cast aspersions.

Upadhyay's fresh plea has also sought re-constitution of the special investigating team (SIT), set up by the Uttar Pradesh government to look into the crimes committed by the gangster and alleged collusion between Dubey, police and politicians. The inquiry commission will also probe the killing of eight policemen allegedly by the Dubey gang and the subsequent encounter of the gangster and five of his purported associates.

The apex court had on July 22 approved the Uttar Pradesh government's draft notification for appointing Justice (retd) Chauhan as the chairman of the three-member inquiry commission. Eight policemen, including DSP Devendra Mishra, who were ambushed in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur when they were going to arrest Dubey and fell to bullets fired from rooftops shortly after midnight on July 3.

Dubey was killed in an encounter in the morning of July 10 when a police vehicle carrying him from Ujjain to Kanpur met with an accident and he tried to escape from the spot in Bhauti area, the police had said. Prior to Dubey's encounter, five of his alleged associates were killed in separate encounters.

On July 22, the apex court had directed that the inquiry commission should start functioning within a week and the probe be concluded within two months. The apex court had passed the order last week while hearing a batch of petitions which sought a court-monitored probe into encounters of Dubey and five of his alleged associates.

Some of the pleas have also sought probe into the killing of eight policemen on July 3. The Uttar Pradesh government, in an affidavit filed earlier in the apex court in the matter, had said that the police party escorting Dubey from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh to Kanpur had to "fire back in self-defence" as he had tried to escape and was killed.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)