The four judicial officers, who accompanied special CBI judge B H Loya to the hospital after he complained of chest pain in early hours on December 1, 2014, acted in "good faith" to ensure medical treatment to their colleague and their conduct cannot be questioned, the Supreme Court said today.
Any attempt on the part of the petitioners and the intervenors to malign judicial officers of the district judiciary must be "emphatically" rejected, it said.
The top court took umbrage against senior advocate Dushyant Dave, who had argued for some of the petitioners and had sought to cross-examine the four judges who had accompanied Loya to the hospital.
It said the conduct of the judges --Shrikant Kulkarni and S M Modak, V C Barde and Roopesh Rathi -- cannot be questioned and there was no reason for this court to doubt the veracity of their statements.
"The petitioners cannot assert as a matter of right that they should be allowed to cross-examine a host of persons including the doctors and judicial officers. By casting unfounded aspersions on the judicial officers who had accompanied judge Loya, the petitioners have revealed the real motive of these proceedings, which is to bring the judiciary into disrepute on the basis of scurrilous allegations.
"We find no basis or justification to allow the request for cross-examination. The application shall accordingly stand rejected," a bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud. said.
It said the decision of the judges to take Loya to the Dande hospital, which was close to Ravi Bhavan where they were staying, was taken in "good faith" and to attribute motives to his colleagues who were with him and took immediate steps to shift him to a nearby hospital "is absurd, if not motivated."
"In hindsight, it is easy to criticise actions which are taken by human beings when faced with an emergency. It is easy for an observer sitting in an arm-chair at a distant point in time to assert that wisdom lay in an alternate course of action.
"That can never be the test for judging human behaviour. The conduct of the colleagues of Judge Loya in attending to him is not in question. They did their best under the circumstances, acting entirely in good faith," the bench said.
Judge Shrikant Kulkarni along with three other judges had told the Commissioner of the State Intelligence Department that one Swapna Joshi, who was the Member Secretary, Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority at that time, had invited them for the wedding of her son at Nagpur.
"Accordingly, I along with S M Modak and B H Loya left Mumbai by train on the night of November 29, 2014 and reached Nagpur in the morning of November 30 2014. We went to Ravi Bhavan government guest house, where VIP Suite was booked.
"On the night of November 30, 2014 we attended the reception arranged by Swapna Joshi on account of wedding of her son and returned to Ravi Bhavan at about 11:30 pm to 12:00 midnight. Early morning of December 1, 2014 Judge Loya started complaining of chest pain," Judge Kulkarni had told the police.
Following the complaint, Judge Kulkarni called another Judge Barde and asked him to rush immediately to Ravi Bhavan with his car due to the bad health of judge Loya.
"Accordingly, judge Barde with another colleague judge Rathi rushed to Ravi Bhavan. It was about 4:00 to 4:15 am. Judge Waiker was also informed about judge Loya's bad health. We took him to the nearby Dande Hospital by using car of judge Barde where emergency treatment was given to judge Loya," he said in his statement.
Judge Kulkarni said Judge Waiker also joined them. As chest pain continued and as per doctor's advice, judge Loya was required to be shifted to cardiac hospital.
Accordingly, he was immediately taken to Meditrina Hospital, Nagpur and judge Rathi, who was working as Deputy Registrar, called his relative doctor to rush at Meditrina Hospital, he said.
"We rushed to Meditrina Hospital, however on the way judge Loya collapsed. We put him on the stretcher and took to the ICU where doctor started immediate treatment. After giving treatment no response from him was seen. Unfortunately, he succumbed to death due to massive heart attack on early morning of December 1, 2014," Judge Kulkarni had said.
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