DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand High Court on Tuesday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe into allegations of corruption against Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat by a journalist.
Order by Justice Ravindra Maithani dated October 27, 2020 said, "Superintendent of Police, CBI Dehradun is directed to register an FIR on the basis of the allegations levelled in para 8 of the petition in WPCRL no. 1187 of 2020 and investigate the case in accordance with law, with promptitude."
The court also directed quashing on an FIR registered against the journalist in July 2020 which includes charges of sedition too along with others.
The court in the order observed, "This Court is of the view that considering the nature of allegations levelled against Trivendra Singh Rawat, the Chief Minister of the State, it would be appropriate to unfold the truth. It would be in the interest of the State that the doubts are cleared. Therefore, while allowing the petition, this Court proposes for investigation also. In view of the nature of the allegations, this Court is of the view that the CBI should be directed to lodge an FIR on the basis of allegations levelled in para 8 of the instant petition and investigate the case in accordance with law."
The directions came while hearing of two separate writ petitions (criminal) filed by two journalists – Umesh Sharma and Shiv Prasad Semwal seeking quashing of FIR lodged in July this year at Nehru Colony police station of Dehradun under different sections 420, 467, 468, 469, 471, 120B of the Indian Penal Code 1860.
The journalist, Umesh Sharma in a video accused the CM who was then Jharkhand in-charge of the Bhartiya Janta Party of alleged money transfers to accounts of his relatives in 2016 to support an appointment of a person in Jharkhand to head the Gau Seva Ayog.
Quashing the FIR against the journalist, the court stated that the allegations as levelled in the instant FIR (July 2020) do not make out any prima-facie case against the petitioners.
The court also observed, "Criticizing the government can never be sedition. Unless the public functionaries are criticized, democracy cannot be strengthened. In democracy dissent is always respected and considered, if it is suppressed under sedition laws perhaps, it would be an attempt to make the democracy weak."
The court further stated that adding Section 124-A IPC (Sedition) in the instant case manifests that it has been "an attempt of the State, to muzzle the voice of criticism, to muffle complaint/ dissent. It can never be allowed".
"The law does not permit it. In the instant case, whatever the allegations against the petitioner, they do not remotely connect with Section 124-A IPC. Offence under Section 124-A IPC is not, prima-facie, made out. Why this section is added, it’s beyond comprehension. Whatever is stated on behalf of the State, on this aspect, has no merit at all," the court observed.
The FIR was lodged after a retired professor, Harinder Singh Rawat, manager of a college in Dehradun, approached the police in July this year with a complaint against a video Sharma had uploaded on Facebook in June. According to the complaint, Sharma had alleged that Harinder’s wife Savita Rawat, an associate professor, is sister of CM Rawat’s wife stating that during demonetisation in year 2016 a man named Amratesh Singh Chauhan had deposited money in different bank accounts belonging to him and his wife.
Harinder rejected all allegations by Sharma including that his family is related to the CM and addeed in the complaint that the journalist in his video showed fake documents.
The police had lodged the FIR in the matter following an inquiry in which Semwal’s news portal, Parvatjan, and another journalist Rajesh Sharma’s portal Crime Story, were also charged.
Meanwhile, the state government officials said that the government will move to the Supreme Court filing a special leave petition (SLP).
Darshan Singh Rawat, media coordinator of the CM, said, "Truth will come out in the inquiry. We will approach the Supreme Court."