RANCHI: The Jharkhand High Court has imposed a fine of ₹8,000 on the state government for failing to file its response to a petition seeking quashing of an FIR registered against Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials under the SC/ST Act by Chief Minister Hemant Soren. The fine was imposed after the state government requested additional time to file its response during the proceedings of the case on Monday.
During the hearing, Senior Advocate Amit Kumar Das and Advocate Saurabh Kumar represented the ED officials. The next hearing is scheduled to take place after four weeks.
The Court imposed a fine of ₹8,000 on the state government, directing that the amount be deposited with the Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority (JHALSA). The matter was heard in the court of Justice Anil Kumar Choudhary. Notably, the FIR was lodged by Hemant Soren on January 31, 2024 at the SC/ST police station in Ranchi against ED officials -- Kapil Raj, Deovrat Jha, Anupam Kumar, Aman Patel and others under Section 3(1) (P)(R)(S)(U) of ST-SC(PA) Act. The FIR alleges that ED officials had asked the Chief Minister to remain present in Ranchi from January 29 to 31, 2024. During this period, in his absence, a raid was conducted at Shantiniketan and Jharkhand Bhawan in Delhi on January 27 without any prior notice.
The Chief Minister further alleged that this action caused him mental and social harassment. Furthermore, the central investigative agency was accused of tarnishing his image by disseminating misleading information through the media.
The ED officials subsequently approached the Jharkhand High Court to challenge the FIR and the proceedings initiated under the SC/ST Act, seeking its quashing, terming it baseless.
During the hearing of this petition, the High Court had directed the government to file a response; the government had requested additional time from the court to do so.
Earlier, during the hearing on October 1, the court had expressed displeasure over the request for more time to file a response and imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on Chief Minister Hemant Soren. Additionally, the court directed that the response be filed and scheduled the next hearing for November 2.
The High Court had previously directed Hemant Soren to file a response in this matter. During the hearing in April 2026, the court had also imposed a fine when time was sought to file the response.