SC: People living in glass house should not throw stones at others

New Delhi: People living in glass houses should not throw stones at others, the Supreme Court said on Friday and termed it shocking that former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, who has served the state cadre for over 30 years, is now stating that he has no trust in the state police.

The apex court, which was hearing Singh's plea seeking transfer of all inquiries against him to an independent agency outside Maharashtra, said the petitioner should not have doubt on the police force in which he has served.

It is commonly said, the person who lives in glass house should not throw stones at others, said a vacation bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanian.

Your lordships are assuming that I (Singh) am living in a glass house, said senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Singh, and added that false cases have been lodged against the police officer.

After the bench observed that it would dismiss the petition, Singh's counsel said he would withdraw it with liberty to avail other remedy.

After arguing for some time, senior counsel appearing for the petitioner wishes to withdraw the present writ petition with liberty to take recourse to such other remedy as available to him in law. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed as withdrawn with the liberty aforesaid, the bench said in its order.

Singh, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was removed from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner on March 17 and was made the General Commander of Maharashtra State Home Guard after

he levelled allegations of corruption and misconduct against the then Home Minister and senior NCP leader Anil Deshmukh.

Deshmukh has denied any wrongdoing saying there was not an iota of substantive evidence to even prima facie establish that any of the allegations made by Singh had an element of truth.

During the hearing conducted through video-conferencing, Jethmalani said Singh has no doubt on the police but he can't keep on facing one case after the other just because he is a whistleblower in the matter.

He said Singh is seeking directions for transferring all inquiries which are ordered against him outside the state and also that probe be transferred to an independent agency like CBI.

This is surprising us. You have been a part of Maharashtra state cadre and served it for over 30 years. Now you are saying that you have no trust in your own state police. This is shocking, the bench observed.

When Jethmalani said no new FIR should be lodged against Singh without the leave of the apex court, the bench said, We are not dealing with FIRs. There are magistrates to deal with them .

Jethmalani said the Bombay High Court had ordered a CBI probe into allegations of Singh against Deshmukh.

He claimed that Singh has been pressurised by inquiry officer to withdraw his letter, which he had written to the chief minister of the state and had levelled allegations against the former minister.