SC holds ex-CBI interim chief Nageswara Rao guilty of contempt, summons him

NEW DELHI: Slamming the CBI for unilaterally transferring an officer who asked by the court to supervise the probe into Bihar shelter home rape cases, the Supreme Court on Thursday said the then interim chief of the agency L Nageswara Rao was guilty of “total contempt” and summoned him along with other officers who were part of the decision.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna was incandescent when it learnt that joint director A K Sharma was shifted out of CBI in violation of its previous order which had directed that no officer involved in the probe be transferred without the court’s approval.

“We are going to take it very, very seriously. You have played with our order. Now God help you. Why did you not obtain leave of this court as per earlier orders. It is a fit case for contempt. Enough is enough,” the bench told the CBI counsel who said two officers — Rao and S Bhasuram, director of prosecution — were involved in the decision to transfer Sharma.

The SC, while ordering a CBI probe in November against all 17 shelter homes where children were allegedly tortured and sexually abused, had asked the agency not to tinker with the team probing the cases without its approval and directed that Sharma would supervise the probe. The officer, however, was shifted out of CBI to CRPF on January 18 without the court’s permission.

The bench was taken aback to learn about the officer’s transfer while perusing CBI’s latest status report on the probe. A visibly upset CJI said the court would not tolerate violation of its order and sought an explanation. It directed the agency to be prepared with all details and furnish names of officers who took the decision to transfer Sharma. It posted the hearing after lunch at 2 pm, giving the agency two hours to collect all information.

“Why have you done this? Why has this officer been transferred? This cannot go on like this. We are very concerned about our order. Was the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) informed about our previous order?” the bench asked.

Within an hour, CBI prepared its affidavit and placed it before the court. The agency informed the court that the ACC was not informed about the SC order and the decision to shift Sharma was taken by the then CBI interim chief.

“In these circumstances, we believe that S Bhasuram and M Nageswara Rao have committed contempt of court,” the bench said and directed them to appear on February 12. It also directed the CBI director to furnish names of all officials who processed the file to transfer Sharma by February 11 and directed them to appear before it along with Rao and Bhasuram.

Sensing that the court had virtually held Rao and Bhasuram guilty of contempt of court, CBI’s counsel pleaded with the bench to tone down its order by holding them “prima facie” guilty of contempt. The CJI, however, said “it is total contempt”.

Doubting the Bihar government’s intent in bringing the culprits to book for allegedly torturing and sexually abusing children in shelter homes, the SC had in November handed over the probe in all such cases to CBI which was already investigating the Muzaffarpur shelter home case.

Cases of harassment and sexual abuse were reported in 17 of the 110 shelter homes which were audited by Tata Institute of Social Sciences. The institute had put those homes under the category of grave concern and submitted its report to the state in May but no action was taken by the government till the Muzaffarpur case came to light.