The Supreme Court has come down heavily on former interim CBI chief Nageshwar Rao on Tuesday after it found him guilty of contempt of court. The bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi has imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh, that has to be deposited within a week.
Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi says ‘for contempt of court we impose a fine of Rs 1 lakh and direct him(former CBI interim director M Nageshwar Rao) to sit in one corner of the court till the court rises for the day’ #MuzaffarpurShelterHome https://t.co/Xzr7kcBYd8
— ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019
Rao was found guilty of contempt, along with Additional legal advisor Bhasuran S.
CJI Gogoi also ordered Rao and Additional Legal Advisor Bhasuran S were also order to “sit in a corner” of the court till the end of the day’s proceedings.
The officers have been found guilty of transferring the senior most investigating officer AK Sharma in the sensational Muzaffarpur shelter home case to CRPF cadre, without the due permission of the court. The court earlier had said that there are two categorical orders by it, directing CBI not to transfer the concerned officer, without its permission. The court also had observed that information regarding the court’s order was not furnished to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
The punishment comes a day after Rao tendered an unconditional apology to the court, for his mistake which he said was done without any intention to defy the court’s order. Attorney General KK Venugopal also appealed to the supreme court to adopt “merciful approach” and also cited Rao’s 32 years of “unblemished” track record.
“You have played with the orders our orders. God help you” Court had remarked on February 7, the day the Rao and Bhasuran were summoned.
Rao was appointed interim CBI chief, last year after the government had sent CBI chief Alok Verma and special officer Rakesh Asthana on leave after both had leveled serious allegations against each other.
The sordid incident of children of shelter homes in Muzaffarpur being sexually abused and tortured came to light in June last year when the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) submitted a report, based on conversations with several girls at the home.
SC had directed CBI to look into matters of illegal shelter homes in Bihar. This had come after surfacing of large scale sexual exploitation of girls at Balika Grih, a children’s home in Muzaffarpur operated by Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti.
