Top 5 Judges booked by Police as Accused for abetting Suicide by a Judicial Officer

April,10,2016:

There was already a speculation about Mental Harassment by some Judicial officers and internal politics behind Judges's suicide.

A month after the body of civil judge senior division and additional chief judicial magistrate at Darwha, Anup Jawalkar, was found on the railway track, the Amravati (Rural) police on Friday registered a criminal case against five top judicial officials from Yavatmal for abetment to suicide.

The police booked principal district judge DR Shirasaw, chief judicial magistrate RP Deshpande, two civil judges of senior division DN Khadse and HL Manvar and a member of district legal aid services authority SM Agarkar invoking after Jawalkar's younger brother Amol found a suicide note from his official residence in Darwha in Yavatmal.

They were booked under section 306 of Indian Penal Code for abetment of suicide along with section 34 for common intention at the Chandur Railway police station. It is perhaps for the first time in recent judicial history that such a large number of members of the judiciary have been booked for abetment to commit suicide of a colleague.

Jawalkar was found dead at a railway crossing at Manjarkhed in Amravati on March 6. Since, no suicide note was found near the body, the Chandur railway police had registered it as a case of accidental death. A fortnight after that, when Amol was in Yavatmal to collect his brother's belongings, he found a suicide note wherein the deceased judge had blamed the five members of the judiciary.

Jawalkar's family has been raising question over another missing wallet of the deceased which he had carried with him on the day of incident. Jawalkar, in the suicide note, which is in possession of TOI, had mentioned that he took the drastic step due to harassment by the persons mentioned.

It has been reliably learnt that Jawalkar was upset over his transfer to Darwha from Yavatmal. He was even not allowed to drive from Yavatmal to attend court. Sources said that there had been also complaints against Jawalkar, who was known for his uprightness, that questioned his integrity which left him disturbed.

Given the names of top judicial officers were involved in the case, superintendent of police, Amravati rural, Lakhmi Gautam said, "This is not an out-of-the-world case for us. We would follow due procedure. The case is handled by one of the most senior inspectors," he said.

Senior PI Girish Bobade of Chandur Railway police station said that Jawalkar's wife's Rupali statement has been recorded. "She was wary to divulge details earlier but now elaborated on the past developments which she could recall as possible reasons that might have driven Jawalkar to take the extreme step," he said.

Sources from police department said that Jawalkar was once close to Shirasaw but later the two parted ways. Police said that internal bickering seems to be a plausible reason behind the incident but the investigation is being hurdled by non-cooperation by a section of legal fraternity. The incident had rattled the legal fraternity who had also started pointing out at the internal squabbling, factionalism and politics within the judicial system which culminated to such a tragic incident. TNN