New Delhi, Feb 27 (UNI) The Congress on Thursday slammed the NDA government for the transfer of Justice S Murlidhar, who was hearing cases against BJP leaders for their role in instigating riots.
'Yesterday on February 26, 2020 a two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Justices Murlidhar and Talwant Singh passed a scathing order identifying and highlighting the role played by certain BJP leaders in instigating riots and giving directions to the police to take urgent and immediate action against them as provided under the law. Barely hours after the Bench pronounced the order, the Ministry of Law and Justice issued an order affecting his immediate transfer to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
'The entire country is shocked but no longer surprised at the brazenness, maliciousness and high-handedness of the Modi-Shah government which will go to any lengths to shield those who have, on record, given hate speeches and sown the seeds of discord that we see ignited today,' AICC media in charge Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters here.
Terming the transfer of the Judge as an instance of vendetta politics by the BJP government against Judiciary, he said, 'A strong and independent judiciary has been the backbone of this country. It has protected the Constitution and the Citizens of this country at crucial moments of our nation’s history.
However, for the very first time on record there is in office a Government that is so intoxicated with its own power that it engages in actions which blatantly undermine the Constitution, the institutions it established and the faith reposed by the people of India.'
He alleged that the transfer of the judge was due to fear by the government that a free and fair investigation in the role of BJP leaders in the violence, terror and mayhem experienced by the residents of Delhi, would expose the entire conspiracy of Delhi riots.
'Were you scared that if a free and fair investigation was conducted the role of your party colleagues in the violence, terror and mayhem experienced by the residents of Delhi, would the entire conspiracy of Delhi riots get exposed?
How many judges will you transfer to prevent justice being delivered fairly and were you unable to find a way to justify the obvious and toxic statements made by your own protégés and were therefore compelled to transfer the judge who had ordered the police to investigate your party colleagues? ,' he questioned.
The Law Ministry late on Wednesday notified the transfer of Justice Muralidhar from Delhi High Court to Punjab and Haryana High Court after President Ram Nath Kovind gave his signatures to the order.
UNI AR SB 1252/1322