The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a PIL seeking an independent probe by the CBI or a Special Investigation Team into alleged honey trapping of legislators, public servants and judges in Karnataka.
Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna heading a bench agreed to list the PIL for hearing today or tomorrow after advocate for the PIL petitioner mentioned the matter for an early hearing.
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The PIL by a Jharkhand resident Binay Kumar Singh sought an independent probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation or a Special Investigation Team composed of police officers who are not subject to control or influence of the Karnataka government. The PIL petitioner has also sought the monitoring of the investigation by the top court or by a monitoring committee headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court.
“The monitoring committee should also inquire into the role played by all authorities/persons who directly/ indirectly benefited from the incident. To direct prosecution of the person found guilty upon investigation,” says the PIL.
Last week, the Karnataka Cooperation Minister KN Rajanna alleged that 48 people have fallen victim to “honey traps” in the State and their obscene videos have been circulated. The Congress leader claimed that the list of those honey-trapped was across party lines, including state and national leaders.
The PIL says, “There were very serious and troubling allegations made on the floor of the Karnataka State legislature 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.”
The PIL further states, “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 judges getting compromised by means like honey trapping poses a serious threat to judicial independence and gravely undermines public confidence in the institution., states the PIL flagging concern over the independence of judiciary in the State.
