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The Jhankhand High Court has agreed on state governmnets recommendation and thus directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe in the alleged killing of Additional District and sessions Judge Uttam Anand.
On 31st July, the Jharkhand government had recommended Central Bureau of Investigation to probe in the alleged killing of Additional District Judge.
On 29th July, the Jharkhand High Court took suo moto cognizance of Jharkhand Judge Uttam Annand's Death and had directed to form the Special Investigation to probe into the incident and to submit its report on August 3. The Court had issued directions based on a letter sent by the Principal District and Sessions Judge, regarding the unfortunate demise of judge Anand (Court on its own motion v. State of Jharkhand).
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Dr. Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan directed that,
"We are directing the S.I.T. to submit a report on the next date of hearing. Let an affidavit be filed disclosing as to when the information regarding the occurrence was received by the police and the time when the F.I.R. was registered. Let an information be also given to us as to whether the procedure of post mortem was video-graphed or not? The Director General of Police, Jharkhand will apprise this Court about the graph rate of the crime in the State of Jharkhand after January, 2020"
Judge Uttam Anand was hearing some high profile cases including the murder case of Ranjay Singh, close aide of Jharia MLA Sanjeev Singh. Moreover, he had recently rejected the bail petitions of two members of a gang of Aman Singh, a criminal/gangster of Uttar Pradesh.
While it was initially believed to be an accident, CCTV footage of the incident which had surfaced, suggested that the vehicle was deliberately rammed into the judge as he was walking along the edge of the road.
On 30th July, a Division Bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justice Surya Kant, while hearing the matter in the Supreme Court had observed that,
“We have come across several instances of attacks on judicial officers and lawyers inside and outside the court premises and we, therefore, want to address the larger issue of safety and security of judicial officers in the country.”
The Apex Court had noted that it is the inherent duty of every State to protect judicial officers and lawyers to let them function independently and fearlessly while endeavouring to dispense justice [Safeguarding Courts and Protecting Judges (Death of Additional Sessions Judge, Dhanbad)]
While allowing the Jharkhand High Court to continue its monitoring of the alleged killing, directions had been issued to the DGP Jharkhand to provide the status of investigation regarding the alleged murder of Judge, Uttam Anand by next week.
The Apex Court had also asked the Chief Secretary and DGP of the State to give details of the law and order situation inside and outside the court premises in Jharkhand.
SCBA President and Senior Advocate Vikas Singh had also flagged the issue before the benches led by CJI NV Ramana as well as Justice DY Chandrachud requesting the court to take cognizance and directing a CBI probe into the same.
“It is a brazen attack on the judiciary. There is even CCTV footage which should be taken up,” said Singh.
Declining Senior Advocate's request the CJI informed him that the Jharkhand High Court had already taken suo moto cognizance of the same.
On Sunday, a Police officer has been suspended by the Jharkhand government in relation to alleged murder case of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Uttam Anand who was killed on July 28 when he out on a morning walk by a three wheeler.
“Officer-in-charge of Pathardih Police Station Umesh Manjhi has been suspended in the alleged killing of Additional District Judge Uttam Anand,” informed Sanjeev Kumar, SSP Dhanbad to media officials.
The police official was suspended for not taking action on a 'theft complaint' lodged by the owner of the auto rickshaw, which was used to kill judge Anand. The FIR related to auto-theft was registered by owner of auto Sugni Devi, whose husband Ramdev Lohra was also arrested by the Special Investigation team.
It is also pertinent to be noted here that, Judge Uttam Anand was hearing some high profile cases including the murder case of Ranjay Singh, close aide of Jharia MLA Sanjeev Singh. Moreover, he had recently rejected the bail petitions of two members of a gang of Aman Singh, a criminal/gangster of Uttar Pradesh.
It was initially believed to be an accident but the CCTV footage of the incident which had surfaced, suggested that the vehicle was deliberately rammed into the judge as he was walking along the edge of the road.
The judge was killed in Dhanbad city of Jharkhand after being hit by an auto rickshaw while he was on a morning walk.
CCTV footage of the incident surfaced suggesting that the auto rickshaw hit the judge from the back and fled from the spot.
The judge was rushed to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
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