Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar has strongly criticised the lack of legal action in the high-profile case involving the recovery of a large sum of cash from the official residence of Justice Yashwant Varma. Addressing students and faculty at the National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS), Kochi, during his two-day visit to Kerala, Dhankhar called the incident a “ghastly crime” and urged swift accountability.
Referring to the massive stash of cash discovered at the judge’s Delhi residence following a fire incident in March, the Vice President raised key questions: “Is this money tainted? What is its source? How did it land in a judge’s quarters? Who does it actually belong to?”
Dhankhar emphasised that under normal circumstances, such a discovery should trigger immediate criminal proceedings. “The system should have moved immediately and the first process would have been to deal with it as a criminal act, find out those who are culpable and bring them to justice. But so far, there has been no FIR,” he said.
He attributed the inaction to a Supreme Court judgment from the early 1990s, which prohibits the registration of an FIR against a sitting judge without prior approval from the judiciary. “The government at the central level is handicapped because an FIR cannot be registered in view of a judgment of the Supreme Court rendered in early 90s,” Dhankhar stated.
Calling attention to the symbolic betrayal from the play Julius Caesar, the Vice President said, “The judiciary had ‘Ides of March’ on the night intervening 14th and 15th March — a terrible time!”
While reiterating his firm commitment to judicial independence, Dhankhar said there must be a balance between protecting judges from frivolous cases and ensuring accountability in serious matters. “I’m all for independence of Judiciary. I’m a strong votary of protecting judges. We must protect our judges from frivolous litigation. But when something like this happens, it is worrisome,” he added.
Earlier, on June 4, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju had announced that the government would bring a resolution during the monsoon session of Parliament to initiate impeachment proceedings against Justice Varma. The judge had come under scrutiny after a Supreme Court-appointed panel was tasked with investigating the discovery of several burnt sacks of cash following the fire at his official residence.
