INTRODUCTION
The infamous case surrounding Justice Yadav stemmed from an incident that occurred in August 2008 when a bag containing Rs.15 lakh was mistakenly delivered to the residence of another Punjab & Haryana Hight court judge Nirmaljith Kaur. The staff of Justice Nirmaljith Kaur immediately informed the police who started their investigation to find the real culprit. The case attracted immense public attention as it allowed a black mark to fall upon the judiciary and further the question of judiciary integrity was resounded throughout the society.
BACKGROUND
The case stemmed from the 2008 incident was soon transferred to CBI given the sensitive nature of the case. CBI took over the case and sought to finish their investigation by December, 2009 but the report was rejected by the CBI judge who ordered the agency to investigate it again. Furthermore, the 2010 report of CBI again raised serious doubts about the legitimacy of the offence and the investigation procedure itself as the report heavily relied upon a single witness statement. The report further lacked any corroborative evidence and the justification provided by the prosecution counsel claiming that the witnesses were pressured into not opening their mouth was heavily criticized by the judges as it was clear that Justice Nirmal Yadav did not take any intervening action during the investigation period and further there was power vested with the justice as they were removed from the position during the period of investigation.
KEY POINTS
- Justice Nirmal Yadav was accused of taking Rs. 15 Lakh to deliver a favourable judgement in the month of August 2008.
- CBI took over the investigation and submitted its report three times and each time the CBI judge criticised the investigating report as it lacked legitimate explanation as to why the crime was committed and did not establish any essential components necessary for the case to be established.
- The Hon’ble High Court of Punjab & Haryana has held that the case was made on baseless hypothesis, presumptions and falsification. The case clearly lacked any merit and did not even have any corroborative evidence and relied heavily on the testimony of one singular witness. For the aforementioned reasons, the hon’ble court dismissed the complaint.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
The case brought forth two important issues to light,
- Firstly, the need to establish transparency between the judiciary and the public to repose faith in the system.
- Secondly, the need of proper investigation by investigative agencies and above all, the need to dismiss charges in light of lack of evidence instead of building hypothetical evidence to prove a crime.
CONCLUSION
The hon’ble high court of Punjab & Haryana has rightly decided that the case lacked merit and furthermore, the attempt to falsify and fabricate evidence using the witness 26 RK Jain to prove the crime. The court severely condemned the investigative agency and warned them of severe consequences if the nature of investigation persisted while dealing in other cases of similar nature. Furthermore, the court highlighted the need to establish a prima facie case against someone before the magistrate takes cognizance of the offence as non-compliance with such procedure will invariably violate the rights of the accused as the alleged offences can as well be fictitious and false. Furthermore, the court also reiterated the need to establish a transparent system to repose faith in the judiciary.
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