The CBI had filed an FIR against Grover and Indira Jaising on a complaint by the Home Ministry that foreign aid received by them was used in violation of FCRA norms.

The Bombay High Court has granted interim relief to senior advocates Indira Jaisingh and Anand Grover in th Fofreign Contribution Regulation ACT and said no coercive stapes can be takenon the basis of the case registeredagainst them  earlier. .

The CBI had filed an FIR against Grover and Indira Jaising on a complaint by the Home Ministry that foreign aid received by them was used in violation of FCRA norms. They had raided the raided the residence and offices of the senior lawyers in a case of alleged violation of rules in receiving and utilising foreign aid. Grover was booked by the agency for alleged Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act violations in receiving foreign aid.

The CBI had filed an FIR on June 13 against Grover who is the president of Lawyers Collective, a voluntary group known for raising human rights issues in courts of India, on the basis of a complaint by the Home Ministry that foreign aid received by the group was used in violation of norms.

“It was alleged in the complaint that during the year 2006 to 2014, the accused persons entered into a conspiracy in Mumbai, Delhi and other places with an intent to cheat Government of India in the matter of misusing and diverting foreign contribution received by the Mumbai-based NGO (Lawyers Collective),” a CBI spokesperson had said in a statement.

He said foreign contribution to the tune of Rs 32.39 crore was received in the account of the NGO and the accused misutilised a sizable amount of the foreign contributions received in Lawyers Collective’s account, thereby violating the provisions of FERA 2010.

The Supreme Court in May had issued a notice to the lawyers and their NGO, Lawyers Collective, on a plea alleging violations of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.

Reacting to the notice, the two had alleged they were being “victimised” as Jaising had taken up the cause of a sacked woman employee of the apex court who had levelled allegations of sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, which were later rejected by an in-house inquiry committee on May 6.

The notice was issued to them on a plea seeking investigation and lodging of FIR under various provisions of law for allegedly violating rules relating to receipt and utilisation of foreign funds.

Jaising and Grover, founders of Lawyers Collective, had been asked by a bench headed by the CJI to respond to a plea by an NGO, Lawyers Voice.

“It is obvious to us that this is victimisation on account of Ms Jaising taking up the issue of the procedure adopted in relation to the allegations of sexual harassment against the Chief Justice of India by a former employee of the Supreme Court which Ms Jaising has done so in her capacity as a concerned citizen, a senior member of the bar and a women’s rights advocate, without commenting on the merits of the allegations,” Jaising, Grover and Lawyers Collective said in a press statement.

 –India Legal Bureau