In Supreme Court Today, 'Missing Cash, Forced Retirement', Nagaland Judge
The Supreme Court on Monday granted anticipatory bail to a retired Nagaland district judge who alleged "malicious prosecution" over complaints of misappropriation of cash - i.e., cash sureties deposited by bail recipients - when he was Principle and District Judge for Mon district.
A police case was filed against Inalo Zhimomi and two others based on a complaint by the current Principle and District Judge on May 26. He had been released from service by the state after a March 27 Nagaland High Court order that he had challenged in the Gauhati High Court.
Zhimomi moved the top court against an interim order Gauhati High Court, passed on May 29, declining to grant temporary release to the petitioner without going into the merits of the case.
The Principal District and Judge for Dimapur district had given a written statement, on the directions of the Gauhati High Court, that a sum of Rs 14.35 lakh was found to be missing.
This was cash deposited for sureties in connection with pending criminal cases.
Unlike other states, Nagaland does not have a bail bond system.
Instead, cash must be deposited for payment of sureties listed in bail orders.
The missing cash includes bail amounts are from 29 cases heard last year, the police was told.
Zhimomi has now moved Supreme Court claiming that when he was Chief Judicial Magistrate in Kohima, he made wrote to the Gauhati High Court in September 2013 to flag this very issue.
In his plea to the top court, the retired judge called his enforced retirement "illegal" and alleged violations of the Constitution, including the registration of a criminal case without following the convention established by the Supreme Court in a 1991 case.
That verdict had mandated prior consultation with the Chief Justice before initiating criminal proceedings against judicial officers from that state. He further alleged that post-retirement disciplinary proceedings contradicted the state's Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules.
Zhimomi told the top court the alleged amount of missing cash was a symptom of "systemic issues in Nagaland's subordinate judiciary", where bail amounts are not deposited correctly.
He gave the example of neighbouring Assam and said the charges against him represented "a clear pattern of malicious prosecution evidenced by the sequence of suspension, compulsory retirement, post-retirement disciplinary proceedings, and, finally, a criminal case against a judicial officer who had earlier flagged concerns about the cash surety system".
That the High Court did not examine flagged issues with the deposit of bail money, i.e., the amount is not deposited with the Treasury of the concerned district, "clearly demonstrates the issue (on the administrative side) has not been properly looked into by the High Court", he said.
At the end of the hearing, the Supreme Court granted Zhimomi some relief.
However, the case will continue to be heard by the High Court.
Zhimomi was represented by Advocate on Record Aditya Giri and Senior Counsel S Borgoahain.
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