The Delhi high court has rejected the plea of a former judge of a lower court accused of accepting illegal gratification to quash charges. The court, however, allowed the plea of the judge for expeditious trial of his case.
Rejecting the plea to quash charges, Justice Ajit Bharihoke said that a judicial officer held a sacred office and it was his duty to uphold and enforce the law. “It is expected of a judicial officer to maintain impeccable integrity, because when all the doors are closed to ordinary citizens, they look up to the judicial officer for justice,” the court said.
The court also rejected the plea of the former judge that the sanction for his prosecution was “invalid” and “illegal”.
The court said that the allegations of demanding and accepting bribe could not in any way considered to be an act carried out in discharge of duty.
The former judicial officer had also submitted that he was in the job by the time the CBI filed the second chargesheet against him.
Agreeing with the plea of the accused, Justice Bharihoke requested the trial court to dispose of the matter at an early date, preferably within six months from the communication of this order.