PHOTO/VIDEO – JITENDER PAL- TEN NEWS ( 19/04/18)
STORY BY- KASHIF
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today dismissed a plea filed to investigate the judge BH Loya’s death and said that there would be no independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding judge’s death.
The SC today said the plea to investigate the judge’s death was “bereft of any truth”, and added that it was an attempt “to malign the judiciary”. It further said that judge Loya died a natural death and there is no doubt about that fact.
A bench of CJI Dipak Misra, Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud rapped the petitioners and said it would have been ideal to initiate contempt proceedings against them in the case where political rivalry was brought to court to malign the judiciary.
The issue triggered a war of words between BJP and Congress party.
While talking to Ten News over SC’s decision, former Union Minister and veteran Congress Leader Salman Khurshid said, “I haven’t read on what ground the court has dismissed the PIL but I must say it is disappointing news for all those want independent probe in BH Loya’s death.”
Moreover, “I urge to Maharashtra government to file review petition in this matter.”
Meanwhile, BJP termed PILs as ‘Political Interest Litigation.’ The BJP mounted an attack on the Congress after the Supreme Court ruling, saying the “invisible” hand behind the petitions was that of this party and its president Rahul Gandhi, who tried to use the judiciary for “character assassination” of BJP president Amit Shah.
At a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra described the public interest litigations (PILs) seeking an independent probe into the death of Judge Loya as “political interest litigations”, and alleged that Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi and his party were behind it.
Later, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said, “Highly disappointed analysis of Loya judgment must await its full reasoning.”
The top court dismissed a PIL seeking an independent investigation into the death of the judge, who was trying the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case, when he passed away in December 2014. Senior BJP leader Amit Shah was an accused in the case; he was eventually acquitted.
Loya died allegedly of cardiac arrest on December 1, 2014 in Nagpur where he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague’s daughter. A batch of pleas, including those filed by Congress leader Tehseen Poonawala and Maharashtra-based B S Lone, was filed in the top court seeking an independent probe into Loya’s death in 2014.
