The Delhi High Court has directed criminal complaint proceedings against six CBI officers after finding that the agency’s 2016 reply to a trial court contained a materially false assertion, while clarifying that its order is not a finding of guilt.
The assertion was a single sentence. The CBI told the trial court on August 2, 2016 that correspondence with the ministry on further legal action was under way, when the High Court found that only an internal deliberation was taking place.
The drafts did the work. An earlier version said the DoPT had rejected the appeal proposal, and that text was deleted and replaced by handwritten words saying correspondence was under way.
That is why the court said it was not mere imprecise wording, and found a reasonable foundation for allegations under Sections 191, 193 and 209 of the IPC.
This report does not name the six officers because the court has not found them guilty, and they can contest the complaint before the Magistrate.
In June 2016, the Ministry of Law and Justice gave an opinion that there appeared to be no reasonable ground to pursue the matter before a higher forum.
The opinion was communicated to the CBI through the Department of Personnel and Training on July 1, 2016.
The court examined successive drafts of the CBI’s reply.
An earlier draft said that the Department of Personnel and Training had rejected the appeal proposal, and that text was deleted and replaced with handwritten words saying correspondence was under way.
The court said this was not mere imprecise wording, and that there was a reasonable foundation for the allegations, according to Bar and Bench.
The court said there was a reasonable foundation for offences under Sections 191, 193 and 209 of the Indian Penal Code.
Section 191 deals with giving false evidence, Section 193 with punishment for false evidence, and Section 209 with a dishonest false claim in court.
Court gavel (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0