In a significant development, Jharkhand High Court granted substantial relief to the state’s Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan and Additional Advocate General Sachin Kumar on Friday. The Bench deemed the criminal contempt petitions against both as not maintainable and dismissed them. The court had reserved its verdict in this matter after completing the hearing on January 23.
The Advocate General and Additional Advocate General faced accusations of making unwarranted remarks against a judge of the High Court. Subsequently, a single bench took suo moto cognizance and after hearing a plea, issued notices to both for alleged criminal contempt.
The single bench transferred the contempt proceedings to the High Court for initiation of action. Notably, a plea was filed in the single bench of Justice SK Dwivedi seeking a CBI probe into the death of Rupa Tirkey, the then Officer-in-Charge of Sahibganj police station. The hearing was ongoing in this regard.
On August 13, 2021, the Advocate General informed the court that during an online hearing in the case, the microphone of the petitioner’s lawyer was accidentally left on. It was alleged by the deceased’s relatives that they were assured of a 200% victory in the case and that the CBI investigation was inevitable.
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The Advocate General had requested the judge to recuse himself from hearing the case. Following this conduct, the court had asked both to apologize, but they refused. Subsequently, the court issued notices.
The Advocate General and Additional Advocate General did not respond to the notice, nor did any government lawyer appear in the matter. Consequently, the court transferred the case to the High Court for contempt proceedings.
