Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the issues raised by the four senior most judges of the Supreme Court including the death of judge B.H. Loya are “extremely important and need to be addressed.”
“They have mentioned that there is a threat to democracy. I think it is extremely serious and needs to be looked into carefully. They have also made a point about judge Loya’s case. I think that also needs to be investigated properly. It needs to be examined at the highest level of the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” said Mr. Gandhi. Such an incident has never happened in judicial history, he added.
The Congress released a two-page statement on the issues raised by the four Supreme Court judges after its president Rahul Gandhi consulted party colleagues P. Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Salman Khursid, Manish Tewari, Vivek Tankha and Randeep Surjewala, all of whom are practising lawyers.
Sources who were present at the meeting confirmed to The Hindu that none discussed any move for an impeachment motion in Parliament as reported by some TV channels.
In its statement, the Congress appealed that the “Full Court of the Supreme Court should take up the issues raised by the four Honourable Judges and find solutions that are consistent with the traditions and conventions of the Judiciary while preserving its independence.”
The Congress said the public interest litigation (PIL) petition regarding the death of judge Loya should be heard by the senior most judges of the Supreme Court and the matter should be impartially investigated by a special investigation team (SIT).
The Congress said the top court should “stop selective assignment of cases that have far-reaching consequences” and maintained that the memorandum of procedures that governs the appointment of judges should be finalised soon.
The party said a delay in doing so had resulted in a situation where nearly 40% of judges’ posts are lying vacant.
Politically, the most sensitive issue, though, is about the handling of the PIL plea to investigate the death of judge Loya, who was hearing the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabudddin — alleged to have been a criminal from Gujarat — where BJP president Amit Shah was the prime accused before being cleared of all charges.
Judge Loya reportedly died of a heart attack on December 1, 2014. But nearly three years after his death, his immediate family members had told the English magazine Caravan that the judge was under pressure and was even offered a bribe of ₹100 crore.
However, the family’s allegations were rubbished by Loya’s colleagues who were with him at the time of his death.
