Politics | Updated Jul 15, 2009 at 06:43pm IST

Opposition joins hands on threat to HC judge

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) have come together in the case of a Union Minister's alleged attempt to influence a Madras High Court Judge.

The three parties have started a signature campaign in Parliament seeking a statement from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue.

But the Central government has said that there was no need for a statement as Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan had already clarified that no minister had approached the judge.

AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa had then alleged that Union Telecom Minister A Raja was the minister involved.

Madras High Court judge Justice R Reghupathy had claimed a Union Minister tried to influence him to favour a father-son duo in a marksheet forgery case.

The Minister reportedly asked justice Reghupathy to grant anticipatory bail to a medical student and his doctor-father in a Central Bureau of Investigation case concerning a forged marksheet.

The judge threatened to write to the Prime Minister if the advocate appearing for the accused failed to submit a written unconditional apology.

Chief Justice of India Balakrishnan had told CNN-IBN that no Union Minister approached justice Reghupathy and suspected that it was the lawyer who tried to influence the case.

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