SC Criticizes CBI for Political Misuse; Dismisses Plea in Jharkhand Assembly Appointments Case

New Delhi: CBI was left embarrassed once again in the Supreme Court. The bench of Chief Justice B. R. Gavai and Justice Vinod Chandran sharply criticized the CBI while dismissing its plea seeking permission to conduct a preliminary inquiry in a case registered by the agency over alleged illegal appointments in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly.

“We cannot allow such applications. Why are CBI mechanisms being used in political battles? We have repeated this many times,” Chief Justice B. R. Gavai said sternly. When Additional Solicitor General S. V. Raju, appearing for the CBI, argued that “such a thing has not happened in this matter,” senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Jharkhand, countered: “Doesn’t that mean it has happened earlier?” Sibal added that the CBI had been politically misused not only in Jharkhand but in West Bengal and other places as well.

In 2024, the Jharkhand High Court had ordered a CBI probe on a petition alleging irregular appointments and promotions in the Legislative Assembly. The Supreme Court later stayed that order. Jharkhand argued that the High Court had ordered a CBI probe in a matter where no crime had occurred nor any FIR had been registered.

Just the previous day, another Supreme Court bench had criticized the CBI while hearing a case from Himachal Pradesh, stating that a politically driven CBI has become an investigative agency that no one trusts anymore.