New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking a probe into the death of Judge Loya, who was conducting a trial in a case related to the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, who was allegedly shot in a stage-managed shoot-out.
Holding that there was absolutely no merit in the petition, a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice D Y Chandrachud said that Judge B H Loya had met a natural death.
Dismissing the petitions, the court said in its judgment: “There is no doubt and it is clear from the statements of the judicial officers that Loya died of natural causes.”
Three of the judicial officers, the court said, had travelled with Judge Loya by train from Mumbai to Nagpur to attend a wedding reception.
They stayed together at Ravi Bhawan, attended the function and during the day time they also visited the residences of a few judges.
The judgment pronounced by Justice Chandrachud also took exception to the way the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed and that insinuations were made against the committee of administrators of the Bombay High Court and the judges of the Supreme Court in the course of the hearing of the matter.
“Sacrilegious allegations were made against administrative committee of the Bombay High Court,” it said.
However, the court said that it was not initiating civil contempt against the petitioner for scandalising the judiciary.
The court castigated the petitioners for making unfounded allegations against the judicial officers which were extraneous to the issue.
It was intended to create prejudice against the judicial officers and scandalise the judiciary, the judgment said.
“The PIL was misused with a political agenda that one man was behind everything. It is a matter of serious concern when court is faced with frivolous PILs and several genuine cases involving personal liberty of under-privileged are pending.”
“It is a travesty of justice in the guise of demanding independence of judiciary, as if there is a great danger to this institution,” the court said and stressed that the PIL was used to settle political scores.
“It gives a sense of anguish that the proceedings were converted to scandalise the judiciary bordering on contempt,” the court said. The court said that there were “absolutely no grounds for such insinuations”.
Meanwhile, the Congress said it is “sad letter day” in India’s history and reiterated its demand for a “fair” investigation. “Today is a ‘Sad Letter Day’ in India’s history. Congress is committed to people’s demand for a fair investigation in the matter surrounding Judge Loya’s death,” said Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala.
Surjewala maintained that not even judiciary can decide whether a death is natural or not without an investigation, while targeting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, saying it was afraid of getting an investigation done.
He said Judge Loya’s “suspicious death” at a Nagpur guesthouse in November 2014 had anguished many for he was trying a case where one of the accused was (now) BJP President Amit Shah, and the apex court’s verdict left many questions unanswered for all those seeking fair investigation and justice.
After Loya’s death, Amit Shah was discharged and CBI refused to file an appeal against it, he said. Listing the chain of events leading to Judge Loya’s “mysterious death” and all the apprehensions expressed by members of his family, judges, jurists, the bar, media and people at large hinting at a conspiracy, Surjewala also noted that the matter was even raised by the four senior most judges of the Supreme Court in their unprecedented press conference.
He questioned the rationale behind using statements of some judges in an administrative enquiry before a police officer as the sole yardstick for arriving at a conclusion, particularly when suspicion was being raised by forensic evidence, witnesses, as well as withdrawal of the judge’s security, the lack of his travel records and no entry in the guesthouse’s register — while 15 different employees at the Nagpur guesthouse did not even recall that Judge Loya even came there.
Surjewala also said that even Loya’s family had publicly stated that clothes on his body were blood-stained.
He also noted two associates of Judge Loya who were allegedly informed about the pressure being mounted on him to let off the accused also died under suspicious circumstances in 2015 and 2016, but no case had been filed or investigation done, while a third narrowly escaped.
Surjewala also said BJP’s attempts to make false political capital out of Supreme Court judgment must be condemned, as the Congress was not a petitioner. — IANS
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