In 1995, in the Naina Sahni murder (Tandoor Kand), Sushil Sharma of the then ruling party, on the basis of suspicion, killed his wife and burnt her in a tandoor in a hotel! And due to the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai in March 1993, the then media and opposition parties created a lot of noise all over the country, the government formed a committee in 1993 (15 July 1993) under the chairmanship of the then Home Secretary, Mr. N.N. Vora! Its name is famous as Vora Committee! However, this report was never made public!
Because some people from Mumbai Police have also cooperated with terrorist organizations in the Mumbai bomb blasts! Similarly, due to the involvement of members of the then ruling party in the Naina Sahni murder! It has come to light that some people from India’s parliamentary politics have also been involved in such criminal cases! A person named Ashwini Upadhyay has filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India that there should be a lifetime ban on leaders convicted by the court in criminal cases from contesting elections! Currently, according to the Representation of the People Act, after completion of the sentence, tainted leaders are barred from contesting elections for the next six years only! Senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, amicus curiae (friend of the court) appointed by the Supreme Court in the case of MPs / MLAs accused in criminal cases, said this in the report presented in the Supreme Court! According to this, limiting the disqualification from contesting elections to only six years is a violation of the right to equality!
Officers of 20 high constitutional posts including Lokpal, Vigilance Commissioner and Chairman of Human Rights Commission can be removed for committing the crime of moral turpitude, in such a situation, giving special concessions to MPs / MLAs is a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution! Petitioner Ashwini Upadhyay has demanded a lifetime ban on tainted leaders from contesting elections! There is Central Vigilance Commission Act to remove Vigilance Commissioner on moral turpitude! There is Lokayukta Act to disqualify Lokayukta and Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 to remove the Chairman of Human Rights Commission! So giving exemption to MPs / MLAs for the same crime is discrimination! Criminal cases are going on against 40% MPs and 44% MLAs! Out of the total 768 MPs of the country, 306 i.e. 40% have criminal cases! Out of these, 194 have serious criminal cases like attempt to murder, kidnapping and atrocities on women! Out of a total of 4001 MLAs, 1,777 i.e. 44% have criminal cases against them. Out of these, 1,136 i.e. 28% have serious criminal cases like murder, kidnapping and atrocities on women.
There are 5,175 pending criminal cases against MPs and MLAs! 40% of these i.e. 2,116 cases are more than 5 years old! The amicus curiae has suggested daily hearings to settle all these cases! Judges who have criminal cases related to politicians should not be given other cases! The High Court should issue instructions to its subordinate courts not to postpone the hearing of these cases for any reason!
Brijgopal Harkishan Loya (aged 48) was reported by his family on the morning of 1 December 2014, “that he had gone to Nagpur to attend the wedding of a judge’s daughter. And he died on the night of 30 November!” Investigative journalist Niranjan Takle’s story on this death is published in the 20 November 2017 issue of The Caravan magazine, after a lot of hard work, under the title “He finally breaks his silence – and the shocking truth about the death of the judge in the Sohrabuddin case.” (caravanmagzin.com)
On the morning of 1 December 2014, CBI Special Court Judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya (age 48) had gone to Nagpur to attend the wedding of a judge’s daughter. And he died on the night of 30 November. Such messages were given over the phone. Amit Shah, the then Home Minister of Gujarat (today, Rajnath Singh has been made the Home Minister of India) was the main accused in the country’s most talked about fake encounter case of 2005, the Sohrabuddin case. At the time of Loya’s death on 30 November 2014, Nitin Gadkari was removed and appointed as the National President of BJP.
At the time Justice Loya died, he was hearing only Sohrabuddin’s case in the CBI Special Court. And the whole country was paying close attention to this case. In 2012, the Supreme Court had ordered the case to be transferred from Gujarat to Mumbai. And to hear this case impartially, it needs to be sent out of the home state of Gujarat. While making such a remark, the Supreme Court, despite directing that the same judge should look into this case from beginning to end, ignored that directive. The first judge, Mr. J.T. Utpat, was removed from this case in 2014 and the case was handed over to Justice Loya.
On 6 June 2014, Justice Utpat had ordered Amit Shah to appear in court on 20 June when he asked for the convenience of not appearing before the court. So Amit Shah did not appear. But he was asked to appear on the next date, 26 June. So a day before that, on 25 June, Justice JT Utpat was transferred, violating the 2012 order of the Supreme Court. Justice Brijgopal Harkishan Loya was given that responsibility.
And Loya had given Amit Shah the facility of not appearing in court if he was out of the state! But why did Amit Shah not come to court on 31 October 2014 at the swearing-in ceremony of the BJP government of Maharashtra state in Mumbai, at the Raj Bhavan of Mumbai which is one and a half kilometers away from the CBI court in Mumbai? This was clearly told by Loya by asking Amit Shah’s lawyer that he should have come to court while he was in the same state and that too in Mumbai! Saying this, he was asked to appear on the next date, 15 December 2014! And on 1 December, the news of the death of Justice Brijgopal Harkishan Loya was published in some newspapers!
And the Trinamool Congress MPs, during the 2014 session of the Parliament, staged a sit-in outside the Parliament to demand an investigation into Loya’s suspicious death. They said that the death was suspicious and should be investigated. The very next day, Sohrabuddin’s brother Rubabuddin also wrote a letter to the CBI saying that Justice Loya’s death was shocking and demanded an investigation into it. He gave his reaction by writing this. But no, the sit-in by the MPs or the letter by Sohrabuddin’s brother had any effect on the CBI or the elected BJP government. On the contrary, Amit Shah has been given the responsibility of an important post like the Home Minister by removing Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was made to maintain law and order in India. Under which, investigative agencies like the CBI also come. And after the death of Justice Loya, a judge named MB Gosavi was given the responsibility of running the Sohrabuddin encounter case. Who, with a charge sheet of more than ten thousand pages and more than a hundred telephone call records and that too in Gujarati, on 30 December, within thirty days of Loya’s death, acquitted Amit Shah honorably from the Sohrabuddin encounter case! And that day was the day of the news of India’s cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s retirement from test cricket. India’s match with Australia was going on and the news of Dhoni’s retirement from test matches was not announced by Dhoni but by the secretary of Gujarat Cricket Association. Meaning, the way cricket has the most influence on people’s minds in the entire country today, which news is most likely to be spread by the media – looking at the possibilities, the time has been chosen to honorably acquit Amit Shah from the Sohrabuddin encounter case!
In the case currently going on in the Supreme Court, the amicus curiae has said in the report! “Politicians also make laws after winning elections. In such a situation, the possibility cannot be ruled out that after the completion of the period of disqualification in a criminal case, they may try to abolish the relevant law!”
After that communal politics started to rise! And a new political chapter of riots and terrorism also started! Due to which today’s Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha started to be filled with tainted people! The beginning of giving them respect in the society is the biggest failure of Indian democracy! Because some of these people have succeeded in becoming the rulers of India! And the so-called mainstream media has started glorifying them as the saviors of India!
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This reminds us of the days of Hitler’s fascist rule in Germany almost ninety years ago! But the case currently going on in the Supreme Court gives some hope! Because the Supreme Court itself appointed Amicus Curiae (friend of the court) and senior lawyer Vijay Hansaria have given very important suggestions! Therefore, I hope that in the darkness all around, the Supreme Court is showing some ray of hope! So let’s hope that the suggestions of the friend of the court will be implemented! If the MPs and MLAs involved in criminal cases in the parliamentary politics of India are banned from contesting elections for life, then it will send a message to some criminals that criminals have no place in Indian politics! Otherwise, it will be proved that our country’s democracy is nothing but a system in the words of Acharya Vinoba Bhave! At present, the only hope left is from the Supreme Court!
I expect that this case has brought an end to the criminal elements in India’s parliamentary politics! Because our parliamentary politics will complete 75 years in 2027, i.e. after four years! So if the Ganga cleaning campaign of democracy starts from our Supreme Court, it will be a historic work! And it will help the people of our country to have more faith in our judiciary!
Dr Suresh Khairnar is Ex. President of Rashtra Sewa Dal
