Facing criticism that the Supreme Court intends to “throw away” the PILs seeking an independent probe into the death of CBI Judge B.H. Loya, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra assured petitioners about the “highest amount of seriousness” with which the court is examining their plea, even calling it a “cause”.
“We give this the highest amount of seriousness. We treat it like a cause. We do not care what is said outside, but we will do our duty if any fact arouses our suspicion,” Chief Justice Misra assured petitioners' counsel, senior advocates Dushyant Dave and Indira Jaising, on Monday.
“If there is some suspicion which requires further investigation, we shall do that. We are looking at all the evidence. That is why we have asked the State (of Maharashtra) to show us all their material on the case,” Chief Justice Misra observed orally.
Justice Loya’s death a “serious concern”
Justice Chandrachud, on the Bench along with Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, reminded the petitioners that the court had already conveyed on the very first day of the hearing that the death of Justice Loya was of “serious concern”.
“We are looking at it carefully to see whether there are facts which arouse our suspicions to pass an order for investigation... A member of the judiciary has died. Certain suspicions have been raised. An officer of the court (Mr. Dave) appears before us seeking a probe... We take this very seriously,” Justice Chandrachud addressed Mr. Dave.
Mr. Dave said the procedure followed by the Bench in hearing the Justice Loya PILs was “not desirable”. Neither has the Bench issued formal notice to the State nor has it sought affidavits from any of the witnesses, including the four judges — two of whom are presently sitting Bombay High Court judges — who accompanied Justice Loya when he died in 2014 at Nagpur.
“I don't know why Your Lordships are reluctant to issue notice to the State and ask them to file affidavits. If a serving judge has lied under suspicious circumstance, Your Lordships should go into it,” Mr. Dave submitted.
‘No politics or political motives’
He emphasised there was no politics or political motives, as alleged by Maharashtra's lead counsel and senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, behind these PILs. Mr. Dave said even the four senior most Supreme Court judges — Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph — had expressed reservations, at one point of time, with the way the apex court was handling the Justice Loya PILs.
Earlier, Mr. Rohatgi had argued that the PILs were fuelled by “oblique political motives” and was timed shortly after an earlier writ petition, filed by activist Harsh Mander, seeking a review of the discharge of BJP president Amit Shah was dismissed by the apex court.
Mr. Dave said the entire case of the Maharashtra that Loya died an “accidental death” due to cardiac arrest hinged entirely on the statements made by the four judges. Mr. Dave had earlier applied to “cross-examine” these judges, even urging the apex court to ask the judges to file their statements as affidavits before it. He said he was under “pressure” from the Bar Council of India because of what he perceives to be due to his involvement with the Loya case.
But Chief Justice Misra reassured Mr Dave, telling him that “we are not taking notice of any BCI notice. You can argue with absolute freedom”.
Mr. Rohatgi argued that this was not a criminal appeal and the magazine article which raised suspicions about the death of Loya was “baseless and concocted”. He raised doubts about why the PILs were filed over three years after the judge's death.
In response, Mr. Dave said the State “before he (Loya) died, did not provide him safety, did not take care of his treatment or treat his body well and failed to make any independent enquiries after his death for the past three years”.
