Suspended judge moves Delhi High Court to quash money laundering case

A suspended senior civil judge has moved a plea before the Delhi High Court seeking directions to quash a money laundering case registered against her by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). .When the matter was first listed for hearing on January 20, Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani had recused from hearing the matter. Thereafter, it was placed before Justice Manoj Jain on January 21. The judge did not preside on the Bench that day. The matter is listed next on March 9. .In 2016, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested the then-senior civil judge, posted at Delhi's Tiz Hazari courts at the time, on allegations of bribery. The judge was accused of accepting a bribe from an advocate appointed as a local commissioner in one of the matters before the judge. The judge is said to have demanded this bribe in exchange for passing a favourable order for a litigant in a case pending before her court. The CBI conducted a trap operation in 2016 and is reported to have caught the judge, her husband and the court commissioner accepting the bribe, after money was recovered from her residence.As per the CBI, the local commissioner had asked the litigant to pay ₹20 lakhs in installments as bribes to be paid to the judge. The money recovered from the judge's residence during the CBI's trap operation was allegedly one such installment. All the accused were arrested and later released on bail.The judge was suspended from her post as well. In 2022, she was also booked in a disproportionate assets case by the CBI. The ED's case is tied to the CBI's 2016 bribery case. .The ED registered a money laundering case in the matter in 2024. In October that year, a trial court in Delhi summoned the suspended judge in connection with this money laundering case. The accused judge has now challenged these proceedings before the High Court, alleging that the trial court's order was passed in violation of Section 223 of Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).This provision states that cognizance of an offence cannot be taken without giving the accused an opportunity of being heard.“The learned Trial Court has passed in the impugned order dated 22.10.2024 in a slip shod manner, without considering the mandate of law provided under Section 223 of the BNNS,” the petition states. The judge is also seeking a stay or deferment of the trial in the ED case until her petition is decided by the High Court. “In case the further proceedings before the learned Trial Court are not stayed and the learned Trial Court proceeds further, the purpose of filing the present petition will be defeated and the present petition would become infructuous,” the petition states..Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa has entered appearance in this case on behalf of the suspended civil judge..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.