Fake warrants struck at the root of system: SC

The Supreme Court on Friday gave five days to an Ahmedabad magistrate and three lawyers involved in the "cash for arrest warrant" scam to give their replies.

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A bench comprising Chief Justice V N Khare, Justice S B Sinha and Justice S H Kapadia also issued notices to the Gujarat chief secretary, the director general of police and Ahmedabad police commissioner after treating as a public interest litigation a representation of 129 journalists of Gujarat protesting against an assault, which allegedly took pace while they were covering the fallout of the scam.

The Central Bureau of Investigation filed its preliminary findings in a sealed cover but Solicitor General Kirit Raval, appearing for the agency, indicated that the person on whose complaint the magistrate issued arrest warrants against the President, chief justice of India and former president of Supreme Court Bar Association, appeared to be a fictitious character.

When senior advocate Sushil Kumar, appearing for one of the advocates accused of playing a role in the issuance of the warrants, sought protection of law, the chief justice said, "The incident has struck at the root of fundamentals of judicial system and do not ask us to apply niceties of law in this case."

The hearing was on a PIL filed by ZEE TV reporter Vijay Shekhar, who allegedly paid Rs 40,000 to advocates Iqbal Katia, Narender Chaudhary and Harish Bhawaniwala for issuance of the warrants by magistrate Brahm Bhatt.

The court, while asking the magistrate and the lawyers to file their replies by February 11, posted the matter for further hearing to February 13.

Attorney General Soli J Sorabjee expressed serious concern when advocate Kamini Jaiswal brought to the court's notice a representation signed by 129 journalists. "This is a serious matter and the state government should be asked as to what steps it had taken in this incident," Sorabjee said.

At this moment, a person who identified himself as a "citizen of India" requested the court to take action against the media, which paid money to get the warrants issued.

The chief justice brushed aside the request and said, "So far as I am concerned, I am not worried."