VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, June 30: The Jharkhand High Court has said that even if it orders a CBI Inquiry into allegations made in PIL 4290/2021 it would not be directed against any individual or any shell company.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Dr. Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad observed this while dismissing an interlocutory petition filed by a person who was represented by his lawyer Amitesh Banerjee. The identity of the person could not be ascertained but it is guessed that he is owning an entertainment company.
Amitesh Banerjee remained engaged in the argument for around half an hour despite being snubbed by the division bench for wasting time of the court.
“Are you the respondent of this case? Has the court issued any notice to your client? Have we made any observations about your client? If not, then what is the purpose behind filing the interlocutory petition,” said the Chief Justice.
“During the hearing the court came across several names like Vinay Choubey, Pankaj Mishra, Pintu and others. But only you came to file a petition,’ the Chief Justice said and added that one should not be afraid of the investigation.
Referring to a Bihari proverb ‘not afraid of ghosts but afraid of ghosts daily coming to house,’ the Chief Justice said: “I am not afraid of ghosts but I am surely concerned that ghosts are coming to house. I know this delaying tactic. By this way people will keep coming and file petitions.”
But Amitesh Banerjee kept arguing that he came to know that his client has been mentioned in the PIL and he has procured the court order and he should be given an opportunity to present his case during the hearing. He also asked the court that the petitioner should serve the copy of supplementary petitions to him also.
On this, the Chief Justice said that since his client is not respondent hence he can’t be given any document. Amitesh Banerjee said he has reasons to believe that his client has been implicated in the PIL as the BJP MP Nishikant Dubey regularly posts tweets on his Twitter handle.
“I don’t know who this Nishikant Dubey is. We don’t pass any order in the light of any tweet. You have made political statements in your petition. We know this dilatory tactic. Be happy and stay happy because we are not going to order anything against your client. But if the CBI catches anything then it will be a different thing. You come to know everything by the grace of god. We are not going to entertain you. You have your friends and you can gather documents from them,” said the Chief Justice who was obviously upset with Amitesh Banerjee wasting the court’s time.
Amitesh Banerjee insisted that he should be heard because of the reasons that his client and his company have figured in the PIL which made some really world class films. “We dismiss your petition. No matter how good the films are. You are a great person,” the court observed.
