By Express News Service
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI/ LUCKNOW: Lapping on the Supreme Court verdict on the Justice Loya case, the BJP top guns had a field day on Thursday attacking the Opposition Congress for its attempts to malign the senior leadership at the Centre.
The BJP claimed that the PIL in the Justice Loya case was actually a ‘politically vested litigation’. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh led the saffron pack in red-flagging the attempts of the Opposition parties to fight political battle in the court corridors. “The move to malign senior leaders of the BJP has failed. It’s evident that the judiciary cannot be made a forum for political battles,” Singh said, adding that the Supreme Court has raised serious questions on the intentions behind the PILs.
Singh interpreted the court verdict as a clear message for the political outfits to desist from any attempt to mislead the judiciary on the basis of allegations arising out of political vendetta.
Union Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was more direct as he urged Congress president Rahul Gandhi not to fight political battles in the courts. “The Congress president had gone to the President. The apex court has stated that political battles should be fought on political grounds. It’s evident that the case was made to fight the political battle against BJP chief Amit Shah in the court,” he said, claiming that the case was an attempt to weaken the BJP and, in particular, Shah. “The Loya case was a politically vested litigation and not a public interest litigation.”
Union Minister Jitendra Singh demanded an apology from Rahul and scorned at the Opposition’s attempts to create doubts. In Maharashtra, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis sought an apology from Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his associates in the case. Fadnavis, who was at Nanded, expressed satisfaction that the Supreme Court accepted the inquiry report submitted by his government.
His Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath accused the Congress of trying to vitiate the atmosphere for ‘settling’ political rivalry. “The real face of the Congress has been exposed through the order of the apex court.”
Journalist defiant
Meanwhile, Niranjan Takle, the journalist who broke the story of Loya’s mysterious death last year, said his quest for truth shall continue. “The court has not denounced my story. No questions have been raised on the truth in our stories. It raised questions about intentions of the petitioners. We have nothing to do about it. We had raised questions and will continue. Our investigation as journalists will continue,” Takle said. Members of the Loya family avoided interaction.
Legal Battle
-
Jan 11: SC agrees to hear two pleas seeking independent probe into Loya’s death.
-
Jan 12: SC terms the alleged mysterious death of Loya “serious matter”, seeks response from Maharashtra government.
-
Jan 22 : Terming “serious” the issues, SC transfers to itself the two petitions related to Loya’s death from Bombay High Court.
-
Jan 31: Former Navy chief L Ramdas moves SC seeking an independent inquiry.
-
Feb 2: SC says concerned only with the Loya case and will not go into other aspects including BJP chief Amit Shah’s discharge in the Sohrabuddin case.
-
Feb 9: Maharashtra govt opposes pleas seeking independent probe.
-
Feb 19: SC says it was treating Loya’s case with utmost seriousness.
-
March 8: SC takes umbrage over accusation by a senior lawyer for casting aspersions on judges that they were only asking “searching questions” to those who brought the case before it.
-
March 9: Maharashtra comes down heavily on alleged accusations by some activist lawyers in the case.
-
March 9: Centre for Public Interest Litigation, an intervenor NGO in the case, says Loya may have died due to poisoning.
-
March 16: SC reserves verdict on pleas for probe into Loya’s death.
-
April 19: SC dismisses pleas seeking an independent probe into the case.
