Anyone playing with judiciary must be dealt with: Apex court

Condemning attempts to “play with” the judicial process with the lure of bribery, the Supreme Court on Thursday said anyone adopting dishonest means to influence the judicial system must be severely dealt with.

Objecting instances of corruption, a bench of justices T S Thakur and R F Nariman slammed former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhana Reddy for “bribing” a Hyderabad judge to secure bail in the illegal mining case.

“You are trying to hijack the system. You have subverted the entire legal system. You are trying to bribe judges. You have tons of money so you start bribing judges,” the bench told senior advocate P Vishwanatha Shetty, appearing for Reddy, the mining baron. The court expressed its anger after Shetty submitted that the case relating to illegal mining and subsequent graft case registered in the matter was part of the conspiracy and should be tried together. The council argued that the disclosure of his defence in the ongoing Obalapuram Mining Company case could end up prejudicing the graft case. Reddy was accused of giving illegal gratification to CBI judge Pattabi Ramrao, who was later suspended, for granting him bail in 2012.

“What defence a man has to bribe a judge. You have bribed a judge. A recovery of Rs 10 crore was made in the case,” the bench told the counsel, citing the case records.
To the council’s claim that Reddy was inside the jail when the bribing incident took place, the bench said: “You wanted to come out. That's why you paid the money”.

“Anyone who plays with the process of court must be dealt with. (This is) one institution that should be left from corrupting means. Judiciary should be spared. When money comes in abundance, you don't know what to do,” the bench observed. The court, however, issued notices to Telangana and the CBI over Reddy's plea to club the two cases against him.

The former Karnataka minister approached the Supreme Court after Andhra Pradesh and Telangana High Court dismissed his petition on February 2. Reddy was released from Bengaluru prison after the apex court granted him bail on January 20.