SC to hear in due course PIL for probe into 'conspiracy' to fix CJI on sexual harassment allegations
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday said a plea seeking direction to CBI to lodge an FIR into alleged conspiracy to fix Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi in a "concocted, false sexual harassment" case will be heard in due course.
The matter was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and S Abdul Nazeer. "What is the urgency? You have filed it and it will come up for hearing," the bench told petitioner advocate M L Sharma. "It will be listed in due course," it said.
Sharma, who initially told the court that his plea be listed for hearing on May 8, later told the bench that he was not seeking urgent listing of the matter.
When Sharma said his plea be listed for hearing before the same bench which has dealt with a lawyer's affidavit claiming larger conspiracy to frame the CJI, Justice Bobde said, "We will see when it will be listed and before whom".
Sharma has named activist lawyers like Prashant Bhushan, Shanti Bhushan, Kamini Jaiswal, Vrinda Grover, Indira Jaising, Nina Gupta Bhasin and Dushyant Dave as parties in his PIL.
He has alleged that the actions of some of the lawyers amounted to "contempt of court" and there was a "planned conspiracy" to defame the CJI.
"The actions not only amount to contempt of court but there was also a planned conspiracy to defame the CJI and to control him and other judges of the Supreme Court. This is a serious fraud, forgery and false criminal attack upon the CJI and the institution," the plea has said.
The plea also seeks a direction to the CBI for registering an FIR under various sections of the Indian Penal Code against all the lawyers and the NGOs run by them, to arrest them and to investigate the case since 2010.
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Delhi court takes cognisance of charge sheet against NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha under UAPA
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court on Tuesday took cognisance of a charge sheet filed against NewsClick founder and Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha under anti-terror law UAPA in a case based on allegations that the news portal received money to spread pro-China propaganda.
Additional Sessions Judge Hardeep Kaur said there was sufficient evidence against the accused in the case and directed the prosecution to supply a copy of the charge sheet to Purkayastha.
The judge fixed May 31 for arguments on framing of charges in the matter.
The court had in January allowed NewsClick HR Head Amit Chakravarty to turn approver in the case.
The judge had pardoned Chakravarty, arrested in the case, on his application that claimed he had material information which he was willing to disclose to Delhi police, which is investigating the matter.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police had arrested Chakravarty and Purkayastha on October 3 last year. They are currently in judicial custody.
According to the FIR, a large amount of funds to the news portal allegedly came from China to "disrupt the sovereignty of India" and cause disaffection against the country.
It also alleged Purkayastha conspired with a group -- People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) -- to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Raids were conducted at 88 locations in Delhi and seven in other states on October 3 against the suspects named in the FIR and those that surfaced in the analysis of data, police said.
Around 300 electronic gadgets were also seized from the offices of NewsClick and the residences of the journalists who were examined.
Following the raids, 46 individuals, including nine female journalists, were questioned by the Special Cell.
