LI NETWORK
Supreme Court is taking serious congnizance in criminal cases against Politicians. Nearly 4,500 criminal cases are pending against sitting and former legislators across the country, data from 24 High Courts have shown.
The Supreme Court expessed the concern and said that the state of affairs is “shocking”. “So many cases are pending at the initial stages because of the influence of law makers,” the court said while hearing a petition on criminal cases against political leaders.
Supreme Court bench of Justices NV Ramana, Surya Kant and Hrishkesh Roy. “of the 4,442 cases against sitting and former legislators, 174 cases are offences punishable with a life term in jail,” “In 352 cases, the trial has been stayed either by High Court or by the Supreme Court,” the judges said, going through the material collated from High Courts.
The data shows Bengal and Punjab, some pending cases date back to 1981 and 1983. In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the corresponding date is 1991. Advocate and BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay the petitioner, sought a lifetime ban on convicted politicians from contesting elections. Currently, they are banned for six years.
Supreme Court sought details of all pending criminal cases against sitting and former MPs and MLAs from 24 High Courts in the country. The top court has also sought information on white collar crimes from High Courts which are yet to provide it. This would include pending corruption cases, money laundering cases and cases under customs laws.
The bench said.”The information must be provided to amicus curiae senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, who is assisting the court in the matter, within two days”. Mr Hansaria, who submitted a report on basis of the data received from the High Courts, has suggested setting up special courts in every district to deal with cases against sitting and former legislators, appointment of special public prosecutors, witness protection programme and other issues
