Issuing summonses to the sitting duck actors and actresses of our film industry for on-screen demeanours is one thing; issuing an arrest warrant for a public act which did not really offend too many sensibilities is another.
Shortly after he issued that arrest warrant against Richard Gere, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Dinesh Gupta of Jaipur was criticised by legal luminaries for pandering to frivolous complaints and making India the laughing stock of the legal world.
Gupta has now been transferred — to Kishangarh in Ajmer district. The Jaipur High Court registrar, CP Singh, told the Times of India on May 2 that Gupta had been transferred with immediate effect. Singh didn’t say what prompted the sudden transfer and described it as ‘routine’. But he did say it was done at the behest of Chief Justice Sachidanand Jha.
Gupta refused to meet the TOI reporter who went to his Jaipur home for his reaction. His family members said that he was unwell and had nothing to say on the transfer.
Update: Gupta did meet a TOI staffer later (May 5, 2007), after all.
“I did not think much and took up my new assignment. I do not know how, through a single order, my transfer was effected. But like an honest and sincere employee I have joined my new job,” he said in an interview.
“I am not repenting. Leave aside Richard Gere’s order, all my directives in the capacity of a judge were delivered in pursuance of justice. God will help me,” he said just before he drove off to Kishengarh to take up his new assignment.
You don't expect such men to be repentant, do you?
