Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Sita Soren vs Union Of India on 7 March, 2019
Author: Chief Justice
Bench: Chief Justice, S. Abdul Nazeer, Sanjiv Khanna
1
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO(S) 451 OF 2019
[ARISING OUT OF SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION
(CRIMINAL) NO.2758/2014]
SITA SOREN ...APPELLANT(S)
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA ...RESPONDENT(S)
ORDER
1. Leave granted.
2. The criminal prosecution launched against the appellant is sought to be nullified on a claim of immunity under Article 194(2) of the Constitution of India.
3. The gravamen of the charge against the appellant is that he had accepted a bribe to vote in favour of a particular candidate in the Rajya Sabha election that was held sometime in 2012 in Jharkhand. Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by VINOD LAKHINA Date: 2019.03.08 17:42:19 IST Reason: 2
4. The precise question was dealt with by a Five Judges Bench of this Court in P.V. Narasimha Rao vs. State (CBI/SPE)1. While two Judges on the Bench took the view that the protection under Article 105(2)/194(2) of the Constitution of India and the immunity granted cannot extend to cases where bribery for making a speech or vote in a particular manner in the House is alleged, the majority view while acutely conscious of the seriousness of the offence, felt that the wrongful act and the “sense of indignation” of the Bench should not lead to a narrow construction of the constitutional provisions which may have the effect of impairing the guarantee to effective parliamentary participation and debate.
5. Having considered the matter we are of the view that having regard to the wide
1. (1998) 4 SCC 626 3 ramification of the question that has arisen, the doubts raised and the issue being a matter of substantial public importance we should be requesting for a reference of the matter to a larger Bench, as may be considered appropriate, to hear and decide the issue arising. We order accordingly and direct the Registry to place the record(s) before the Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India on the administrative side for appropriate orders.
....................,CJI.
(RANJAN GOGOI) ...................,J.
(S. ABDUL NAZEER) ...................,J.
(SANJIV KHANNA)
NEW DELHI
MARCH 07, 2019
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ITEM NO.101 COURT NO.1 SECTION II-A
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
PETITION(S) FOR SPECIAL LEAVE TO APPEAL (CRL.) NO(S). 2758/2014 (ARISING OUT OF IMPUGNED FINAL JUDGMENT AND ORDER DATED 17-02-2014 IN WPCRL NO. 128/2013 PASSED BY THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI) SITA SOREN PETITIONER(S) VERSUS UNION OF INDIA RESPONDENT(S) Date : 07-03-2019 This petition was called on for hearing today. CORAM :
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. ABDUL NAZEER HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJIV KHANNA For Petitioner(s) Mr. Vivek Singh, AOR Mr. Swastik Dalai, Adv.
Mr. K.K. Singh, Adv.
Mr. Samarth Khanna, Adv.
For Respondent(s) Mr. Vikramjit Banerji, ASG Mr. R. Balasubramanian, Adv. Mr. Nalin Kohli, Adv.
Mr. Anmol Chandan, Adv.
Mr. Shamik Sanjanwala, Adv.
Mr. Chandan Kumar, Adv.
Mr. A.K. Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R Leave granted.
Having considered the matter we are of the view that having regard to the wide ramification of the question that has arisen, the doubts raised and the issue being a matter 5 of substantial public importance we should be requesting for a reference of the matter to a larger Bench, as may be considered appropriate, to hear and decide the issue arising. We order accordingly and direct the Registry to place the record(s) before the Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India on the administrative side for appropriate orders.
[VINOD LAKHINA] [ANAND PRAKASH]
AR-cum-PS BRANCH OFFICER
[SIGNED ORDER IS PLACED ON THE FILE]