New Delhi:
A former judge was sentenced to three years in jail today for taking Rs 2000 as bribe 26 years ago.
The 74-year-old former judge Gulab Tulsiyani was handed down the jail term, as well as a fine if Rs 50,000, by Special CBI Judge V K Maheshwari who held him guilty of demanding and accepting illegal gratification for disposal of a factory challan case in 1986 during his tenure as a metropolitan magistrate at a Patiala House court in New Delhi.
The court, however, suspended his sentence till May 28 after the convict expressed his wish to appeal against his conviction and sentencing.
While releasing him on an interim bail on a personal bond, the court asked Tulsiyani to appear before it on May 29.
"Judicial office is an office of public trust, therefore high integrity, honesty, ethical firmness is the requirement of society from the judge. A judge's conduct is expected to be judged by standards higher than that expected from any other public servant.
"The confidence in judiciary is getting shattered day by day. Today judiciary is suffering from self-inflicted wounds. Judiciary must take utmost care to see that the temple of justice does not crack from inside, which will lead to a catastrophe in the justice delivery system resulting in the failure of public confidence in the system."
The special judge also said in order to keep the "stream of justice clean and pure", a judge must be endowed with "sterling character, unimpeachable integrity and upright behaviour".