Patna: Authorities in Bihar have suspended around a dozen staff of the Patna civil court after they were caught on camera allegedly taking bribes to facilitate shifting of prisoners and under-trials to jails of their choice and managing dates for hearing or appearances in court.
The axe fell on the court employees soon after they were caught in a video openly accepting money from the undertrial prisoners in the civil court premises and someone sent video clippings to the cellphone of the Patna High Court’s chief justice Rajendra Menon.
The sting operation carried out by a TV news channel showed the lower court employees asking for money from prisoners to shift them to jails of their choice, to fix dates of hearings in cases, managing their cases at the police station and handing over copies of information about the cases of their interest.
Reports said the chief justice took cognisance of the matter and asked the district judge to suspend the court staff involved in the bribery scandal. Subsequently, four court employees were suspended on Wednesday while the remaining staff were placed under suspension on Thursday. This is the first time the axe has fallen on so many staff over bribery charges.
“A court is a temple of justice and we will not tolerate any corruption flourishing in the premises of the court. People come here with great expectations for justice and we will not let them down,” Patna district judge Justice Krishnakant Tripathi was quoted as saying in the media Thursday.
The chief justice has also sought a detailed report from the Patna district court, finding the matter quite serious and tarnishing the image of the judiciary. “We have sought a detailed report from the court and stern action will be taken against the persons found guilty during the probe,” registrar general of Patna High Court B.B. Pathak told the media Thursday.
The expose assumes significance in the light of recent move of the Supreme Court rejecting a petition seeking a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe allegations of graft involving a retired Orissa High Court judge and then stating the whole controversy had damaged the image of the top judiciary and created doubts about its integrity.
According to local lawyers, such bribes are quite common in the premises of Bihar courts. “It all starts after the judge orders sending the prisoners to jail. After the judge passes such order, the court staff ask for money from prisoners/undertrial prisoners to shift them to prisons of their choice,” an advocate told the media, adding everything comes with a price in court.
