SC dismisses plea for independent probe in judge Loya case

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 19

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed PILs seeking an independent probe into the December 2014 death of judge BH Loya in Nagpur, saying it was a natural death caused by cardiac arrest.

A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra came down heavily on the petitioners for filing frivolous PILs and attempting to scandalise the judiciary and obstructing the course of justice. Other judges on the Bench were Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud.

"Business rivalries have to be resolved in the market and political rivalries in the grand hall of democracy. It is the court's duty to protect the law," said Justice Chandrachud, pronouncing the verdict for the bench.

But the Court's verdict could not be accessed as the Supreme Court's official website was hacked and it had to be pulled down for security reasons.

Loya had died of a cardiac arrest on December 1, 2014, in Nagpur where he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleagues daughter. 

Loya and the four judges had travelled to Nagpur for the wedding and stayed at Ravi Bhawan, a government-run VIP guest house, where he suffered the cardiac arrest.

He was handling the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case in which various police officers and BJP president Amit Shah were named. Shah was later exonerated in the case.

His death has been making headlines since November 2017 after media reports quoting his sister raised questions about the circumstances surrounding his death and its alleged link to the Sohrabuddin case.

After Loya's death, special judge MB Gosavi had discharged Shah and some other accused.

The top court had witnessed heated exchanges between lawyers for petitioners and those representing the Maharashtra government, with the petitioners levelling allegations against several judges of the Bombay HIgh Court.

Loya's son had on January 14 said in Mumbai that his father had died of natural causes.

The Bench said there was no reason to doubt the statements of the four judges who were with Loya on the fateful night to attend a marriage in Nagpur.

There was no reason to doubt the statements of four judges on the circumstances leading to Loya's death and the documents placed on record and their scrutiny established that the death was due to natural cause, the Bench noted, agreeing with the Maharashtra government's contention. 

There were five PILs before the top court seeking a court-monitored SIT probe. All these petitions have been dismissed.

The Bench, also comprising Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud, noted that the petitioners conduct amounted to criminal contempt of court. But it chose not to issue contempt notice to the petitioner.

Terming the petitions as frivolous and motivated litigation aimed at settling political scores, it said political rivalry was behind the "facade of the PIL" to malign the dignity of judicial officers and Bombay High Court judges.

Judicial process will be reduced to a "charade" if the courts are burdened with such cases with extraneous reasons, it noted.

On insinuations against judicial officers and judges, it said an attempt was made to cause prejudice against them and which was a "vituperative assault on the judiciary".

With these petitions it becomes clear that "a real attempt and frontal attack" was made on the independence of judiciary and the present case was a manifestation to carry forward a personal agenda.

The petitioners had launched a veiled attempt to malign the judiciary and the credibility of judicial institutions was questioned, the Bench said disapproving of attempts by noted lawyers Dushyant Dave, Indira Jaising and Prashant Bhushan to make insinuations against judges, including those of the Supreme Court.

It took exception to Bhushan's plea that Justice Khanwilkar and Justice Chandrachud should not have heard the matter as they came from Maharashtra and must be knowing judges of the Bombay High Court whose statements were relied upon.

Petitioners' advocates forgot to maintain institutional civility towards judges and made wild allegations, it noted.

While relying on the statements and accounts of the four judges -- Shrikant Kulkarni and S M Modak, V C Barde and Roopesh Rathi -- relating to the death of the judge Loya, the bench said, "There is no reason for this court to doubt the veracity of their statements." It said the statements of four judges were "credible, consistent and truthful" and there was no reason to disbelieve it.

Four senior-most apex court judges -- Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph -- had in their inprecedented press conference on J January 12 questioned the manner in which the CJI allocated sensitive cases to top court judges. Loya's case was mentioned by them.