New Delhi, Sep 20 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Friday pulled up the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for making sweeping allegations against the West Bengal Judiciary and refused to transfer 45 post-poll violence cases outside the state.
A division bench of Justice AS Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal took strong exception to the CBI’s allegations, characterising them as serious and unfounded aspersions.
The bench took strong exception to the sweeping allegations against the West Bengal judiciary and rejected them of bias and hostility.
“It is unfortunate a central agency makes such comments against judiciary- how can you say hostile atmosphere prevails in West Bengal courts?’, the Apex Court asked CBI.
The Court said, “You are casting aspersion on the entire state judiciary. Your officers may not like judicial officers of West Bengal but don’t make such statements,” the bench said.
The CBI had taken over the investigation into the violent incidents which occurred soon after the Assembly polls.
CBI had moved the Supreme Court last year seeking to shift the trial outside West Bengal alleging that there was a hostile atmosphere in the courts in Kolkata.
The Top Court refused to entertain CBI’s plea and reprimanded them for making such sweeping statements against the Judiciary.
The bench rejected the CBI’s blanket allegations of bias and hostility stating that the agency has levelled a slew of “scandalous” statements against the Judiciary.