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New Delhi: Taking exception to repeated allegations by a senior counsel that the Supreme Court was "protecting corrupt judges", the second senior-most judge of the court on Thursday abandoned hearing of a graft case against the judiciary.
Justice B.N. Agrawal withdrew himself from the bench, which was hearing a lawsuit seeking a high-level probe into the allegations that several retired and sitting judges, including those from the higher judiciary, were beneficiaries of fraudulent withdrawal of over Rs70 million (Dh6.3 million) from the Ghaziabad district court treasury between 2001 and 2007.
Agrawal abandoned the hearing following repeated allegations by former union law minister and senior counsel Shanti Bhushan that "the Supreme Court is protecting corrupt judicial officials".
The apex court judge said he would not be party to hearing unsubstantiated allegations against the Supreme Court.
However, the two other judges on the bench, V.S. Sirpurkar and G.S. Singhvi, decided against withdrawing from the hearing. Agrawal then referred the case to Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan for deciding the future course of action.
The bench has been hearing the matter since yesterday.
After senior counsel Anil B. Diwan finished his arguments on Wednesday, Bhushan began his arguments, contending that the judges must not be given any immunity from prosecution for their alleged wrong-doings.
Yesterday, when Bhushan made several contentious submissions, it seemed to irk Agrawal, who decided to opt out of the trial.
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