hemant soren BJP

New Delhi: After the Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren’s plea challenging his arrest and directed him to approach the Jharkhand high court, his counsel Kapil Sibal has said that the apex court must clarify the matters in which it can be approached.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday (February 3), Sibal who is a Rajya Sabha MP and a senior advocate in the Supreme Court, said that the apex court must inform the public of its policy of admitting pleas. “We should be informed by the court that which are the matters in which we can approach the Supreme Court and in which matters we should not. Because we don’t know if we file such a plea whether the Supreme Court will admit it or not,” said Sibal

A Supreme Court bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, M.M. Sundresh, and Bela M. Trivedi on February 2, directed Soren’s writ petition to be moved in the Jharkhand high court and asked Sibal, who is Soren’s counsel, as to why the matter cannot be heard by the lower court.

“First, courts are open to everybody. Second, high courts are constitutional courts. If we permit one person to come here, we will have to allow everyone,” Justice Khanna was quoted as saying by LiveLaw.

Soren’s plea came up after a bench led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud on Thursday had agreed to list the chief minister’s petition on Friday.

Soren had filed a petition in the Jharkhand high court challenging the ED arrest but when he filed a similar petition at the Supreme Court, Sibal undertook that he would withdraw the high court petition.

Referring to Article 32 of the Indian constitution which states that individuals have the right to approach the Supreme Court seeking enforcement of other fundamental rights recognised by the constitution, Sibal said that the apex court must make a policy under which the public should know when to approach the court.

“I think there would hardly have been any such instance in the history of India when a sitting chief minister is arrested and that is also not deserving to be heard under Article 32. It would have been different if the Supreme Court had heard us and then, after hearing it, said ‘we don’t want to interfere and go to the high court’. But to tell us first that we should go to high court without hearing…” he said.

Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government, Sibal said that the aim is to ensure that there is no opposition chief minister in any state.

“They will do this against [Delhi chief minister Arvind] Kejriwal. They want only double-engine governments and no opposition government. Now, what will happen is that 10 more cases will be slapped on Hemant Soren while in custody. All of them made-up cases, so that he does not come out of jail and which will benefit the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections,” he said.

Arrested in an alleged land scam case, Soren stepped down as chief minister late on January 31. While leaders of his party, the Jharkhand Janmukti Morcha, have noted the timing of the arrest – just before the general elections – and called it a brazen act of political vendetta, Soren had expressed fear that his arrest may allow the Union government to impose president’s rule in the state. He has also invoked the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against ED officers for allegedly harassing him.

Sibal said that the matter relates to 2007, but the arrest took place in 2024. “If we don’t go to the Supreme Court, where will we go? What is happening in the country? What kind of politics is this?” he asked.

New Delhi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren hit out at the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, accusing it of “forming a PIL gang” to disturb the United Progressive Alliance government in the state.

Soren also claimed that the saffron party had been “looting” the state since it was formed.

The chief minister, who was addressing a public meeting on Monday after the Supreme Court allowed his appeal in a mining lease case, alleged that the BJP, “hell bent” on destabilising the democratically elected government in the state, was “misusing” central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax department to serve its interests.

The ED on November 2 had summoned Soren for questioning in the mining lease case.

The ED’s summons came within months after it was reported that the Election Commission of India had recommended Soren’s disqualification as an MLA in an office-of-profit case. After weeks of speculation but no official communication from the EC, Soren had called on governor Ramesh Bais and urged him to clear the confusion.

The BJP, Soren alleged, had “ruled and looted the state for 20 years and did nothing for the rural masses, the poor, the farmers, youths and the old”.

The apex court on Monday allowed Soren and the state government’s appeals against a high court order which had accepted the maintainability of PILs for a probe in the mining lease issue.

“A peculiar situation had been prevailing in the state ever since the UPA government came to power in Jharkhand with the clear intention to deliver and ensure development of the state. Some forces became so active that they have formed a PIL gang to file litigations against our government with false allegations,” he said.

“They (BJP) had also claimed that former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda was involved in a Rs 40,000-crore scam. How much could they recover?” Soren asked, accusing the saffron party of “ruining” his (Koda’s) future.

Koda was the chief minister of the UPA government of Jharkhand from 2006 to 2008 and had resigned after the JMM withdrew support. It was alleged that he was involved in a mining scam in the state and took huge bribes for illegally allotting iron ore and coal mining contracts.

He was arrested by the state police vigilance wing on November 30, 2009 in connection with the scam and was released on bail from Birsa Munda prison here on July 31, 2013. A special money-laundering court in Delhi attached Koda’s properties worth Rs 144 crore and CBI is investigating the scam on the orders of Jharkhand HC.

Referring to the saffron party’s protests against corruption outside block offices in the state on Monday, Soren said, “I want to ask why and for what are you protesting. The allegations of corruption you have lodged against me and my government have been dismissed by the apex court today,” Soren said amid loud cheers from the crowd which had gathered to hear him.

He claimed that the BJP’s protests were being held by people it had hired.

Continuing his attack on the saffron party, Soren said, “You (BJP) are scared of the overwhelming response my government is getting for our popular welfare schemes… We are aware that you (BJP) have a degree in inciting people, in driving a wedge between people and other tricks to spread hatred.

“They (opposition) first try to bargain and if it fails to materialise, file a PIL,” Soren said, adding that such an approach is hindering development work.

The BJP was able to rule the state for 20 years and loot it, as tribals were uneducated and did not understand politics.

“The BJP always took the tribals to be fools, capable of only selling hadia (country liquor). The UPA government is committed to carry out development work and put the mineral rich state on the path of progress,” he said.

Soren said the opposition party’s claim of development in the state during its rule was “only on paper” as people remained neglected.

The schemes of the UPA government are aimed at strengthening the rural economy, he added.

Meanwhile, the president of Jamshedpur Mahanagar Committee of the BJP, Gunjan Yadav, said in a statement that the Soren government has failed to deliver on its promise of providing employment to five lakh youths in the state.

“Besides, the chief minister had assured unemployed youth of allowances. All of those promises have remained unfulfilled as the government is only engaged in grabbing publicity,” Yadav said.

(With PTI inputs)