Supreme Court to decide today if ‘corrupt’ lawmakers can claim immunity from prosecution

Tribune News Service

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, March 3

Do MPs and MLAs enjoy immunity from prosecution for taking bribe for making speeches or voting in a particular manner in the House?

A seven-judge Constitution Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud — which reserved its verdict on reconsidering the 1998 PV Narasimha Rao case order that gave blanket immunity to bribe-takers on October 5 last year — will deliver its judgment on Monday. In the Narasimha Rao case, the top court had held that MPs and MLAs enjoyed immunity from prosecution for taking bribe for “anything said or any vote given” in the House.

The Bench — which also included Justice AS Bopanna, Justice MM Sundresh, Justice PS Narasimha, Justice JB Pardiwala, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Manoj Misra —had reserved its verdict after hearing Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for the Centre, senior counsel Raju Ramachandran for petitioner Sita Soren, senior counsel and amicus curiae PS Patwalia, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan and others.

Venkataramani had suggested that the immunity could extend to speech or acts of voting needed to discharge the duty of a lawmaker without fear of consequences.

Twenty-five years after a five-judge Constitution Bench in the PV Narasimha Rao case ruled that a lawmaker was immune to prosecution even if he/she took money to vote on the floor of the House, a five-judge Bench led by the CJI had on September 20, 2023, referred the issue to a seven-judge Constitution Bench to reconsider the correctness of the 1998 judgment.

Earlier, the important question of law relating to parliamentary privilege under Article 105 and Article 194 of the Constitution was referred to a five-judge Constitution Bench by a three-judge Bench headed by then CJI Ranjan Gogoi on March 7, 2019, in connection with JMM legislator Sita Soren’s plea claiming protection under the top court’s ruling in Narasimha Rao’s case after being accused of taking a bribe during a Rajya Sabha election.

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