Date:11/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/11/stories/2008041156570300.htm

New Delhi

It’s bribe, not whistle blowing: court

J. Venkatesan

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has questioned the bona fides of Vijay Shekar, journalist, and the Zee television channel in conducting a “cash for warrant” sting operation, in which an Ahmedabad magistrate issued warrants against the then President, the then Chief Justice of India and two others.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices R.V. Raveendran and Mukundakam Sharma was hearing Mr. Shekar’s petition contending that his intention was only to expose the malaise in the system.

The warrants against the then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the former Chief Justice of India V.N. Khare, a former Supreme Court judge B.P. Singh and the late R.K. Jain, a senior lawyer, were obtained in the sting operation by Mr. Shekar, who paid Rs. 40,000 to three Ahmedabad-based advocates, who in turn obtained the bailable warrants on the basis of a fictitious complaint. The court already quashed the warrants issued by magistrate M.S. Brahm Bhatt, holding that the complaint was ex-facie fraud. The Chief Justice told senior counsel Arun Jaitley, appearing for the channel and the reporter “if he [journalist] is not prepared to tender an apology, then he should be prepared to face the consequences. It is now found that the magistrate is innocent. You have unnecessarily interfered with judicial proceedings by filing a false complaint. You have no case that the judicial system is corrupt.”