Jharkhand HC has taken up matter of Dhanbad judicial officer's 'killing': SC

The Supreme Court Thursday said the Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court has already taken up the matter related to the alleged killing of a judicial officer of Dhanbad and concerned officers in the case have been asked to be present before itA bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Surya Kant said this after senior advocate Vikas Singh who is also the president of Supreme Court Bar Association SCBA mentioned the matter and said this is a ldquobrazen attackrdquo on the independence of judiciarySingh said investigation in the case must be entrusted to the CBI as killing of a judicial officer apparently for not granting bail to a gangster is an assault on the judicial systemldquoWe are aware of the incident and we appreciate the efforts of SCBA I have spoken to the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court He has taken up the case and has asked the officers to be present there The matter is going on there Leave it thererdquo the CJI told SinghInterference by the apex court in the matter at this stage may not be necessary as the high court has already taken it up on the judicial side the bench saidCCTV footage shows Additional District judge of Dhanbad being run over during morning walk CJI Ramana has told SCBA President Vikas Singh that the Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court has taken cognizance of the alleged killing Case hearing is underway Jharkhand Police pictwittercomkgloNlCl9Fmdash Mid Day mid_day July 29 2021Singh while saying that video of the incident was also shot told the bench that if somebody is killed for not granting bail to a gangster then there will be ldquono judiciary in the countryrdquoOn Wednesday morning a judicial officer was killed in Jharkhands Dhanbad district after being hit by a vehicle police had saidDistrict and Sessions Judge8 of Dhanbad court Uttam Anand was out on morning walk when the incident happened at Randhir Verma Chowk near the district court in the Sadar police station area a senior police officer had saidAround 5 am a vehicle hit him from the rear and fled Senior Superintendent of Police Sanjiv Kumar had saidThe judge was found to be lying in a pool of blood by an autorickshaw driver who took him to the Shahid Nirmal Mahto Medical College and Hospital where he succumbed to the injuries the officer had saidPrior to mentioning the matter before the CJIled bench Singh mentioned it before a bench headed by Justice D Y ChandrachudSingh termed the incident ldquoshockingrdquo and said the apex court should take cognisance of the matterJustice Chandrachud told Singh to mention the matter before the CJIWhen Singh said mentioning may not be allowed before the CJI Justice Chandrachud assured him that he would use his good office to bring the matter to the notice of the CJIAfter mentioning the matter before the CJI Singh appeared before Justice Chandrachudled bench to argue another case which was listed for hearingJustice M R Shah who was part of the bench headed by Justice Chandrachud asked Singh why was the video of the incident was shot as it could be used as evidenceSingh said persons involved in this wanted to terrorize people by shooting the videoldquoThis is tyranny This was brazen and they wanted to terrorize people The video is not shot from any CCTV cameras but from a video camera as people can be heard talking and it was even zoomed in several timesrdquo he saidWhen Justice Shah said what could be the reason behind the incident Singh said the judicial officer had passed unpleasant bail order against some gangsterAnyway I have mentioned this before the CJI who said that he has talked to the Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court The chief justice of high court is taking up the matter on the judicial side Singh saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever