SC pulls up Zee correspondent involved in sting operation

New Delhi, July 26 (UNI) The Supreme Court today pulled up Vijay Shekhar, a Zee News reporter who conducted a sting operation to expose corruption in judiciary and got warrants issued against former President A P J Abdul Kalam, former Chief Justice of India V N Khare and former Supreme Court Bar Association President R K Jain from a court in Gujarat.

Shekhar had paid Rs 40,000 to three advocates, one of whom was the president of Meghani Nagar district Bar Association, for getting the warrants.

A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balkrishnan and Justices R V Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari observed, ''The whole perception of this gentleman is absolutely wrong. It is not happening and we never came across any such incident when we were in high court. This has affected the entire judicial system and the magistrate concerned who has since been exonerated has lost two years.'' The court directed the petitioner Vijay Shekhar and another to file an affidavit to satisfy the court that their action was bonafide and under the guise of exposing corruption in the system, the system cannot be taken for a ride.

The warrants issued by the Magistrate Meghani Nagar were cancelled by this court and an inquiry was ordered and the Magistrate concerened was placed under suspension and the Gujarat High Court ultimately cleared the name of the Magistrate.

Senior counsel Arun Jaitley appearing for the petitioner justified the sting operation by saying that the operation was aimed at exposing corruption in the system and such sting operations exposing corruption in judiciary, politicians and among public servants are in public interest.

The court however did not agree with the counsel and said that politicians cannot be equated with judiciary.

UNI