Former Judge guilty of evading arrest

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 19

Former Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMIC) SS Bhardwaj has been held guilty of evading arrest in 2003 after the CBI had raided his residence in a Rs 7-lakh graft case. Bhardwaj has the dubious distinction of being the first Indian Judge to be convicted in a graft case.

However, a lower court had earlier acquitted him of the charge of evading arrest against which the state had filed an appeal. The appeal was accepted by an Additional District and Sessions Judge. The quantum of his sentence will be pronounced on Friday.

Bhardwaj, along with District and Sessions Judge RM Gupta, was accused of demanding a bribe of Rs 11 lakh for passing favourable orders on an anticipatory bail application pending in Gupta’s court in 2003. However, Gupta was acquitted of all charges in the case.

Bhardwaj had escaped from his residence on May 10, 2003, after he was caught taking Rs 7 lakh from the complainant to help him in a bail matter. He was arrested a month later and faced trial in both cases — the graft case and under Section 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful apprehension) of the IPC.

In May 2009, the special CBI court here had convicted Bhardwaj and sentenced him to three-year imprisonment. The former Judge had challenged the decision and the matter is pending in the High Court. However, in February 2014, a JMIC court in Chandigarh had acquitted Bhardwaj in the resistance-to-arrest case. The state had filed an appeal in the case, which was decided today.

His name had cropped up in HCS (Judicial) paper leak

Bhardwaj’s name had come up in the HCS (Judicial) paper leak case as well. According to the police, he is the owner of Jurist Academy in Sector 24. This is the same institute where the accused in the case, Sunita and Ayushi, went for coaching for the exam.