Following the ‘Cash in court’ bribery expose in the Patna district and session court, through a sting operation on Thursday, axe has fallen on 16 officials of the court.. All of them have been put under suspension with immediate effect and departmental proceedings will be started against 12 of them.
Taking cognizance of the issue, Chief Justice of the Patna High Court, Justice Rajendra Menon, has also ordered an enquiry into the matter.
In view of the sensitivity of the matter, the district judge has also called a meeting to review the scenario under his jurisdiction.
Patna HC registrar general B B Pathak said that it was a serious matter and all the district courts had been asked to go in for a thorough review to prevent unethical practices. “While 16 employees have been suspended, the HC has directed all the district judges to maintain strict vigil against unscrupulous elements, take prompt action and report it to the HC,” he added.
Pathak said that further action against the suspended officials would be taken on the basis of the report of the district judge.
The suspended employees were caught by a TV channel on camera allegedly taking bribe to facilitate shifting of prisoners and under-trials to their choice jails and managing dates of hearing or appearance in the court, media reports said on Wednesday.
{{/usCountry}}The suspended employees were caught by a TV channel on camera allegedly taking bribe to facilitate shifting of prisoners and under-trials to their choice jails and managing dates of hearing or appearance in the court, media reports said on Wednesday.
{{/usCountry}}“A court is a temple of justice and we will not tolerate any corruption on the premises of the court. People come here with great expectations for justice and we will not let them down,” district and session judge, Patna, Krishnakant Tripathi told media persons.
Those who were suspended were identified as Ramendra Kumar, bench clerk, Santosh Kumar, office clerk, Subodh Kumar, steno, Mukesh Kumar, assistant clerk (all four posted for deal excise act cases), Subodh Kumar, clerk (server room), Sahnaaj Rizvi,clerk in copy department, Mani Devi, clerk in copy department , Sunil Kumar Yadav, bench clerk of additional family court , Vishwamohan Vijay, bench clerk of principal family judge, Kumar Nagendra, bench clerk of ADJ-11, Sanjay Shankar, bench clerk of ADJ-3 , Ashish Dixit, bench Clerk of munshif-3, Pradip Kumar, bench clerk of ADJ-9, Madhu Rai, clerk (copy department), Ram Iqbal, peon in copy department and Alok Kumar, peon of district judge.