New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday came down heavily on CBI for transferring its former Joint Director A K Sharma, who was probing Bihar’s shelter home cases, out of the agency in violation of the court’s order and directed its then interim chief M Nageswara Rao to personally appear before it on February 12.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi took serious note of violation of two earlier orders of the apex court and issued contempt notice to Rao for transferring Sharma to the CRPF on January 17 without taking prior permission from the court.
The bench, which also comprised Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, directed CBI Director Rishi Kumar Shukla to give the names of officers who were part of the process in transferring Sharma out of the probe agency.
The top court referred to its earlier orders in which it had asked CBI not to remove Sharma from the team probing Bihar shelter home cases. Besides Rao, the bench also sought appearance of all other CBI officers who were involved in the transfer process of Sharma on February 12.
It also directed for presence of S Bhasu Ram, in-charge Director of Prosecution CBI, for violating its order. Several girls were allegedly raped and sexually abused at an NGO-run shelter home in Muzaffarpur and the issue had come to light following a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).
Case tranferred
to Delhi HC
It also ordered transfer of the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual assault case from a court in Bihar to a New Delhi court, saying “enough is enough” and children cannot be treated like this.
The apex court came down heavily on the Bihar government for its management of 16 shelter homes in the state, other than that at Muzaffarpur, and warned that unsatisfactory response of its queries will force it to summon the chief secretary. The bench directed the Bihar government to render all assistance in smooth transfer of the case and its records within two weeks from Thursday. (PTI)
