NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to entertain a PIL seeking a direction to probe into an incident of alleged honey trapping a senior minister of Karnataka government and several others, including judges.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta dismissed the plea filed through advocate Barun Kumar Sinha on behalf of the petitioner Binay Kumar Singh.
SC Dismisses PIL on Karnataka Honey Trap Case: No Probe Ordered
The petitioner contended that very serious and troubling allegations made on the floor of the Karnataka state legislature i.e. Vidhan Soudha that a person aspiring to be the Chief Minister of the State has been successful in honey trapping several persons, amongst whom are judges.
"The allegations have been made by a sitting minister who has claimed himself to be a victim, thereby lending credibility to the serious allegations. Not only that, another minister of the government has not only echoed the allegations made by the first minister, rather alleged that the scale and proportion of the scandal is at least ten times than what is currently visible," the plea said.
The plea said it cannot be over emphasized that honey trap of Judges by certain vested
interests is a serious threat to the very independence of judiciary and
rule of law.
"Judges and other public functionaries getting compromised by means like honey trapping
poses serious threat to judicial independence and gravely undermines public confidence in the institution. It also undermines rule of law and threatens survival of democracy," it said.
The petitioner said much murmurings have already been caused by multiple media reports and social media.
Karnataka Honey Trap Scandal: Supreme Court Refuses Investigation Plea
"In this backdrop, it is imperative that this court steps in to salvage the reputation and public confidence in judicial system of the country," the plea said. The petitioner, who claimed to author and a resident of Dhanbad, filed the plea on the basis of media reports.
He contended a compromised judiciary is a grave threat to democracy.
"If judges can be blackmailed or coerced into delivering biased rulings, then the rule of law itself collapses, making way for tyranny, corruption, and injustice. The people’s faith in the judiciary depends on swift and uncompromised action in response to these allegations," the plea said.
The petitioner contended a Supreme Court-monitored investigation, led by a neutral and independent agency, is the only way to uncover the truth and restore public confidence in the judicial system.
"Anything less would be an abdication of duty and an open invitation for further assaults on the judiciary’s independence. Democracy demands that this matter be addressed with the urgency, seriousness, and impartiality it deserves," the plea said.
The plea sought a direction that the incident should be investigated by an independent agency i.e. Central Bureau of Investigation or a Special Investigation Team comprising of police officers of integrity and who are not subject to control or influence of the State of Karnataka, and report be submitted to this court. It also said the investigation should be monitored by this court or by a monitoring committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge.
"The monitoring committee should also inquire into the role played by all authorities/persons who directly/indirectly benefitted from the incident," it said.
Karnataka State Cooperation Minister K N Rajanna caused a major controversy in the state after he told the Legislative Assembly that he had been the target of a recent attempt at honey-trapping and that as many as 48 leaders from all parties had been targeted.
The issue of honey-trapping of legislators was raised by BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal with a statement that there were rumours of many Congress ministers being targeted by organised gangs.
