By Muslim Mirror Staff
New Delhi: Following the dissent of four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra will the case of mysterious death of Justice BH Loya on Monday. The case was one of the main triggers for the last week’s unprecedented press conference addressed by Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurien Joseph.
Justice Loya, at the time of his death in December 2014, was hearing the politically-sensitive Sohrabuddin Sheikh police encounter case.
The Chief Justice’s bench, which also comprises Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, had on Saturday fixed the next date of hearing and ordered that the case be put up “before the appropriate Bench as per the roster”.
According to court documents issued on Saturday, it will continue to remain with the Chief Justice’s bench.
Two petitions that sought an independent probe into Judge Loya’s death had earlier been assigned to two judges, including Justice Arun Mishra, the 10th most-senior judge of the apex court.
But the two judges remitted the case back to the CJI on Tuesday in wake of an unseemly controversy after the four senior judges last week questioned what they called selective assignment of cases with far reaching consequences. They had underscored that sensitive cases should be heard by senior judges.
They had confirmed that their complaints include the case of the death of a CBI judge, BH Loya.
Justice Arun Mishra, who was one of the two judges hearing the Judge Loya case, had later broken down at a closed-door meeting of judges at the Supreme Court, complaining that he was “unfairly” targeted and questions raised about his “competence”. He was, however, reassured by Justice Chelameswar that he wasn’t the target.
Judge Loya, 48, died in Nagpur in December 2014 while he was hearing a case that accused BJP chief Amit Shah of ordering fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in 2005. Weeks after the judge’s death, Shah was discharged from the case with a new judge ruling that there was no evidence to merit his trial.
Two months ago, judge Loya’s relatives said his death was unnatural. His sister Anuradha Biyani also claimed that he was offered a huge bribe to rule in favour of Amit Shah. A Maharashtra journalist BS Lone and activist-petitioner Tehseen Poonawalla had filed a petition to seek an independent inquiry.
Judge Loya’s son Anuj Loya, however, has now said that he did not have any suspicions about the death.
First and foremost, I thank the four par excellence gentlemanly SC judges who showed decor, discipline, and integrity befitting the highest judiciary of the nation. Without being judgmental, the oversensitivity of CJI and immediate reprimanding of any questioner raises issues in a commoner’s mind. Why didn’t you(rs) catch it so far? Why did you have to wait for Caravan, Loya’s siblings coming to the public as whistle blowers? Generally, “jo badal garajte, wo baraste naheen”. So, I shall wait till the judgment is delivered. For the rest of the citizenry, I appeal, “democracy does not imply the majority is better than the judge, just because of their number”. Be just for the justice sake. The honor/integrity of SC/CJI/Bench is > the rest.