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Criminals as Lawmakers: Special courts to try criminal cases pending against MPs, MLAs

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Criminals as Lawmakers: Special courts to try criminal cases pending against MPs, MLAs

In a case seeking ban on law breakers becoming law makers, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Dec 12, that it will set up twelve special courts to speed up disposal of criminal cases pending against MPs and MLAs in the country.

However, the government, which is opposed to a lifetime ban on convicted persons becoming MLAs or MPs, in its affidavit to the Supreme Court, put the number of cases pending against lawmakers as 1,581 – which does not match the numbers mentioned in the petition before the court. This was the number of MPs and MLAs against whom criminal cases were pending, according to the petition. With several of them involved in multiple cases, the number of cases, as per the petition being heard by the Supreme Court, was over 13,500.

In a two-page affidavit, additional secretary in Ministry of Law and Justice Reeta Vasishta told the SC that the scheme envisages the constitution of the courts for a period of one year. The courts will try the cases against the law makers mentioned by candidates in their poll affidavits in 2014 when elections were held to Lok Sabha and eight state assemblies, said the affidavit.

Vasishta added that the ministry of finance has approved Rs 7.8 crore for the special courts.

While the government’s affidavit in the Supreme Court put the number of cases at 1,581 which 12 fast track courts would dispose of with ease within a year, the number of criminal cases is more than 13,680 as of 2014 and 1,581 is the number of MPs and MLAs facing prosecution, as per the petitioner Ashwini Upadhyay. Several tainted lawmakers face multiple cases. Upadhyay said “we need 100 special courts, not 12 courts.”

“The figure of 1,581 cases has been obtained from an NGO. However, the data as to in which courts the said cases are pending is not available with the NGO. Since the details as to in which courts the cases are pending is not available, it is difficult to gather facts and figures for answering the query of the court (on number of cases filed against lawmakers after 2014). The government has initiated action by seeking to collect the requisite details from the respective state governments,” the Centre said in its affidavit.

A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha is hearing a petition filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay seeking a lifetime ban on convicted persons from legislatures and Parliament. At present, a lawmaker guilty of a criminal offence punishable by two years or more in jail immediately loses the membership of Parliament or state assemblies. Under the court’s 2013 judgment, a convicted politician is also barred from contesting elections for six years from the date the sentence ends.

On November 1 this year the SC had directed the government to come up with scheme to set up special courts for speedy trial of lawmakers facing criminal charges. It is hearing a private litigation filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyaya seeking a life-time bar on contesting elections for convicted politicians.

The suggestion for a central scheme was made after Election Commission of India (ECI) backed it and said it would go a long way in cleansing Indian politics. The government was reminded of an earlier top court order that fixed a time limit of one year for the trial courts to dispose of cases against politicians.

The Centre in its affidavit said that under the scheme, two courts would exclusively hear 184 cases pending against Lok Sabha members. Bihar would have just one court to deal with 141 cases involving MLAs as will Maharashtra to try 160 cases against its legislators.

There would be one special court in Uttar Pradesh to decide 160 such criminal cases. Similarly, one in West Bengal, where 107 MLAs are facing cases, one in Kerala that has 87 cases pending against MLAs and one in Telangana, with 67 cases awaiting final decisions, would be set-up.

Twenty-one states, including Gujarat (54 cases), Jharkhand (52 cases) and Orissa (52), will not have such courts. There will not be any special judicial forum to hear the cases of 44 Rajya Sabha MPs and the government affidavit is silent on which court will hear them.

During the November 1 hearing, the court had asked the Centre to apprise it on how many of the “1,581 criminal cases” pending against MPs and MLAs, “as declared at the time of filing of nomination papers for the 2014 elections”, were disposed of within a year as directed, how many had ended in acquittal or conviction, and whether any further criminal case had been filed against an MP or MLA after 2014.

Responding to this, the affidavit said: “There is no agency within the government collecting such data. Though the Centre had written to the Election Commission on this, the poll body also expressed its inability to provide the data.”

The EC had told the Centre, said that the figure in the petition was apparently taken by the petitioner from a report compiled by the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The EC subsequently contacted the NGO, which said “the present figure is 1,571 not 1,581” and “this may be due to death/ resignation/ vacant seats etc.”

The ADR did not have information regarding the courts these cases were pending in, said the government. The Centre has contacted the states and written to their chief secretaries, secretaries of state legislatures and secretary general of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for the information. The government is also in touch with the various high courts, in case the data is available with them, said the affidavit.

The apex court will consider the government’s proposal when it hears the matter on December 14.

The government, which has already opposed the life ban as demanded by the petitioner, said the recommendations of the poll panel and the law commission were under “active consideration”, said media reports.

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US reiterates its call for fair, transparent, legal process for Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, speaks on Congress frozen accounts

The US spokesperson said that they are also aware of the Congress party’s allegations that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections.

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A day after India summoned an US diplomat over their remarks on the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy case, the US reiterated its call for fair, transparent, timely legal processes on Wednesday.

Responding to questions on India summoning Gloria Berbena, the US Acting Deputy Chief of Mission in New Delhi, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that they will continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Notably, the meeting at the foreign ministry’s South Block office lasted nearly 40 minutes yesterday with India objecting strongly to the US remarks on the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal.

Matthew Miller also responded to a question on the Congress party’s frozen bank accounts. The US spokesperson said that they are also aware of the Congress party’s allegations that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections. He added that the US encourages fair, transparent and timely legal processes for each of the issues.

Arvind Kejriwal was arrested last week by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection to the Delhi liquor policy scam. Earlier, AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Sanjay Singh were arrested in the same case.

The External Affairs Ministry had earlier stated that states are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others, and this responsibility is even more so in case of fellow democracies, adding that it could otherwise end up setting unhealthy precedents.

The Ministry further emphasized that India’s legal processes are based on an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes. It mentioned that casting aspersions on India’s legal procedure is unwarranted.

The United State’s remarks followed days after Germany’s Foreign Office stressed that Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is entitled to a fair and impartial trial. The Indian government labelled their remark as blatant interference in internal matters.

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Punjab: AAP leaders Sushil Kumar Rinku, MLA Sheetal Angural join BJP

Rinku said Aam Aadmi Party lagged behind in Jalandhar on the issue of its development. He said they had not fulfilled the promises which they had made during the byelection as the AAP government did not support him. He said he was impressed by the style of working of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

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The Aam Aadmi Party had a double setback in Punjab as its lone Lok Sabha MP, Sushil Kumar Rinku from Jalandhar, and Jalandhar West MLA Sheetal Angural joined the BJP in Delhi on Wednesday. BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde welcomed them in presence of Punjab BJP chief Sunil Kumar Jakhar and Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

Rinku said Aam Aadmi Party lagged behind in Jalandhar on the issue of its development. He said they had not fulfilled the promises which they had made during the byelection as the AAP government did not support him. He said he was impressed by the style of working of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. He added that whatever works related to Jalandhar he took to Delhi were granted and the Adampur airport was made operational.

Rinku said Jalandhar had been given a stop for the Vande Bharat train. He said the people of Jalandhar need over bridges in the city and in Adampur. He said he was seeing a ray of hope by joining BJP. He said he is conducting a new experiment. He said he did not have greed for himself but he had wishes for the people of Jalandhar.

The Aam Aadmi Party came to know about the joining of Rinku to BJP when he suddenly disappeared from the AAP’s election campaign after he was named the candidate. He was among the first 8 candidates announced by the Aam Aadmi Party.

 Sheetal Angural became a first time MLA in 2022. He is going to hand over his resignation from the assembly on Thursday. With his resignation, the Jalandhar (west) seat will go into elections. Angural defeated Rinku in 2022 Assembly elections when the latter was in Congress. Earlier on Tuesday BJP had poached Congress MP from Ludhiana, Ravneet Bittu.

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Delhi High Court refuses to grant interim relief to CM Arvind Kejriwal, next hearing on April 3

A bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma issued a notice to the ED on the Delhi Chief Minister’s plea seeking immediate release and declaring his arrest and remand as illegal.

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In a major setback for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to allow any interim relief to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate. The High Court also issued notice on Kejriwal’s plea and scheduled the matter for further hearing on April 3.

A bench comprising Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma issued a notice to the ED on the Delhi Chief Minister’s plea seeking immediate release and declaring his arrest and remand as illegal. The High Court asked the investigation agency to file its reply within April 2.

The Delhi High Court further rejected the contention of senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi who appeared for Arvind Kejriwal and argued that no reply from ED was required. The court pointed out that it is duty-bound to hear both sides fairly keeping in mind the principles of natural justice and hence ED’s reply is essential and crucial to decide the present case.

The court remarked that having regard to the nature of issues raised in the plea, it is of the opinion that the respondent has to be granted an opportunity to file a reply, as an opportunity for effective representation. It added that declining the opportunity to the respondent to file a response would amount to denial of fair hearing as well as violation of one of the principles of natural justice, that is audi- alteram partem, which is applicable to both the parties and not one.

In addition, the ED is likely to produce Arvind Kejriwal in a court on Thursday as his present remand will conclude tomorrow. The investigation agency arrested CM Kejriwal last Thursday in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case and sought a six-day custody starting from March 22. The nodal agency may seek an extension of Kejriwal’s custodial remand or seek court directions for sending him into judicial custody.

Meanwhile, Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal said that the Chief Minister has proof and that he will reveal everything about the location of the money related to the so-called liquor policy scam in the court tomorrow. 

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