Judge Loya’s death | SabrangIndia

Review Decision in Loya Case: BLA Review Petition in SC

Mon, 21 May 2018 10:23:24 +0000

In a dramatic development, the Bombay Lawyers Association (BLA) has filed a petition seeking a review of the Supreme Court’s judgment in the case calling for an investigation into the death of Judge Loya. On April 19 this year, a three-judge Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud dismissed the petitions filed by Tehseen Poonawalla, Bandhuraj Lone and others, seeking an independent investigation into the death of Judge Loya.

Ironically, in its 114-page judgment authored by Justice Chandrachud, the Supreme Court had come down heavily on the petitioners and their counsel, observing that their actions amounted to misuse of judicial process and denigration of the judiciary’s image. To clarify the matter, the BLA makes it clear that its petition was not filed with an intention of bringing the judiciary to disrepute.

“The Writ Petition was filed seeking merely an independent enquiry into the death of late Judge Loya and such a petition can under no circumstance be treated as having been filed to attack the independence of Judiciary.”

The review petition states that paragraphs 70 to 75 of the judgment ought to be deleted, as it is error apparent on the face of the record. In these paragraphs, the Court discusses the scope of public interest litigation, and makes adverse remarks against the petitioners and their lawyers.

“If the said observations and findings stand, it will discourage persons in future from coming forward to protect this great Institution which is more often than not under attack from the other branches of the Democracy.”

The review petition also states that the only defence put forward on behalf of the state of Maharashtra was the unaffirmed report of an enquiry held by a Police Officer, Commissioner of State Intelligence, which contained the testimonies of the judges accompanying Judge Loya during his last hours.

“If the enquiry was being ordered by the State Government on 23rd of November following publication of Article on 20th and 21st November, how was it that the Commissioner, State Intelligence wrote to the Hon’ble Bombay High Court stating the names of the four Judicial Officers and 2 High Court Judges for recording their say…

…So how is it that within minutes of ordering the enquiry the Commissioner State Intelligence had gathered the names of five other Hon’ble Judges as possible witnesses for recording say when their names were not in public domain at all…”

It is also contended that the observations made in paragraph 43 of the judgment amounts to error apparent on the face of the record. The fact that Bombay High Court judges went to the press to dispel doubts surrounding Judge Loya’s death has been called into question.

“The submission was to the effect that the name of the concerned Hon’ble Judge of the High Court was mentioned in the letter of Commissioner Intelligence, sent to Hon’ble Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court on November 23, 2017 even before starting inquiry to record his “say” along with others.

The Hon’ble High Court did not accord permission qua Hon’ble High Court judges. Yet, the Hon’ble Judges went to Press on November 27, a day before the Report was submitted and gave statements virtually on the same lines as the contents of the Report.”

The judgment has also been assailed on the grounds that the petitioners were not given the opportunity to cross examine all the persons whose statements had been recorded by Commissioner Intelligence. This right, the review petition states, is conferred by the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 and KK Kochunni v. State of Madras, wherein it was laid down that cross examinations can take place in writ petitions.

“The judgment proceeds and relies virtually entirely on the statements of the Learned Judges. It is respectfully submitted that Petitioner Association has never questioned the status and the respect commanded by those Learned Judges. But if they chose to give statements which State of Maharashtra heavily replied upon and which have influenced this Hon’ble Court in its decision making they ought to have been offered for cross examination.”

The review petition goes on to state,
“If the enquiry was ordered as prayed for and if it found that Judge Loya had indeed died of heart attack it would have set all doubts to rest but it would have sent a strong message to the Judiciary and to the country that individuals are willing to stand up for the judiciary and not desert it in time of challenge. As against that if enquiry had found some foul play it would have truly been a great service to the independence and impartiality of Judiciary and its Members…”

Related Articles:
1. Even without an investigation, Supreme Court concludes that Judge Loya’s death was natural
2. Heartbreak and Hacking: What happened after the SC dismissed the PIL in the Judge Loya case

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Death of Judge Loya: Medical Documents Rule Out Heart Attack, Says Leading Forensic Expert

Mon, 12 Feb 2018 09:06:41 +0000

Caravan magazine spoke to Dr RK Sharma—the former head of the Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Department at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, and the president of the Indian Association of Medico-Legal Experts

After examining medical documents pertaining to the death of the judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya, one of India’s foremost forensic experts, Dr RK Sharma—the former head of the Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Department at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, and the president of the Indian Association of Medico-Legal Experts for 22 years—has dismissed the official claim that Loya died of a heart attack. According to Sharma, the documents show signs of possible trauma to the brain, and even possible poisoning.

Sharma spoke to The Caravan after studying Loya’s post-mortem report and related histopathology report, a report that accompanied samples of Loya’s viscera that were sent for chemical analysis, and the results of the chemical analysis. Some of these documents have been procured through Right to Information applications, and others have been submitted to the Supreme Court by the government of Maharashtra in support of a report by Maharashtra’s State Intelligence Department that concludes there is no cause for suspicion regarding Loya’s death. Sharma’s expert opinion contradicts this conclusion.

Read the full report here.

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Personal Testimony of Admiral Ramdas on Judge Loya’s case

Thu, 01 Feb 2018 05:19:38 +0000

To Whom It May Concern

So Why Am I filing a Writ Petition and PIL on the Judge Loya case? How and Why am I concerned?

1. I have always been and remain a great believer in and follower of the Constitution of India which guarantees independence of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary.

2. The Constitution guarantees every citizen various freedoms, including the freedom of speech, freedom to practice the religion of their choice, and Right to life.

3. Several events in the years since Independence have been indelibly imprinted on my mind from the time that I witnessed at close quarters, the horrors of Partition as a young lad growing up in Delhi in the 1940s. To mention a few – the ruthless slaying and pogrom let lose against the Sikhs in 1984; the inexplicable destruction of places of worship including the Babri Masjid in 1992 , and the deliberate killing of large numbers of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002. I continue to watch with mounting dismay, the current and continuous violations of basic human rights, attacks on minorities – especially Muslims and Dalits, and the systematic weakening and debilitation of all our established institutions, including the judiciary. As we

celebrate the 68th anniversary of our Republic– each of these events listed above, represents a serious violation of the Constitution, for which I hold the Governments of the day accountable. It is certainly a time to take serious stock of where we have reached and how do we make the necessary course corrections before it is too late.

4. I retired as Chief of the Naval Staff in 1993 after 45 years in the service of the Nation. I moved soon thereafter tolive in a small village, Bhaimala, in rural Maharashtra. I have constantly and continuously maintained a critical position about these continuing attempts to undermine and weaken the Constitution and the Democratic framework of the country, and how these affect the most marginalised. I have never hesitated in expressing my views and my unhappiness at these developments in unequivocal terms. These have often taken the form of letters addressed to the topmost leadership in the country .

5. These include one written in October 2015 to the then President and the Prime Minister – expressing my shock at the series of events taking place around the country; then one in 2017 to Shri Ram Nath Kovind jee, the Honorable President and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, soon after his election , concerning the growing intolerance and deteriorating civil military relations among other matters.

6. The latest letter was written by me to the CJI and the CJ – Bombay High Court, written in November 2017, raising my concerns about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Judge Loya , as outlined in the Caravan Magazine in Nov 2017. This was mainly to urge the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court to constitute a high level Judicial Enquiry /SIT into the matter and to thus restore public confidence in the image of the judiciary and the highest court in the land – ie the Supreme Court.

7. I have been motivated primarily by an abiding consciousness of my duties as a citizen of India and a proud member of our Armed Forces. I have always sought to communicate my views and disquiet on matters of state, directly to the leadership of our nation from time to time, or whenever, in my perception, we seem to be losing our way and moving away from the broad pathway or Dharma as laid down in the Constitution – which has always been my guiding light.

8. So it is in this present case. I have already written expressing my strong discomfort at the series of disclosures and conflicting versions regarding Judge Loya’s sudden and untimely death. The recent Press conference by four of the senior most Judges of the SC only confirmed my own fears that all was not well – and therefore this writ, as a Public interest Litigation, seeking the Courts Directive to set up a high level judicial Enquiry under the direct monitoring of the SC. I am hoping that by so doing, I would add further weightage to the pleas already made , to inquire into this matter without further delay and further damage to our institutions.

9. I am sharing my reasons for taking this action of seeking direction from the Highest Court in the land, primarily to allay possible allegations of vested interests that might have motivated me. I am 84 years old – and have been keeping indifferent health. I could just as well have kept silent and enjoyed my retirement. However, do I feel deeply that each of us has a duty and a responsibility to work towards realising the dream of building an open, tolerant, inclusive and diverse India – as envisioned in that great document -the Indian Constitution.

10. My experience as a Lok Pal. It was this belief that led me to accept the responsibility of the role of Lok Pal of the Aam Aadmi Party from its inception till I was no longer required ! In keeping with my principled notion that such a role required complete and uncompromising objectivity and non partisan functioning, I never became a member of AAP or any other political party.

11. I have never held a post retirement paid post – either in Government nor in any private for profit entity. I live primarily on my pension and interest on my few savings – and this has enabled me to play the role of an independent voice and critic without any fear or favour. Born in Mumbai; domiciled in Maharashtra; I am perhaps one of the few retired Former Chiefs who continues to live on the land allotted to me for my gallantry award of Vir Chakra after the 1971 operations.

12. My wife and I have cultivated what was banjar land, and we continue to learn about organic farming and the struggles of our rural and farming community – the greatest education we could have had. For nearly twenty five years, we have worked with local communities and children in a number of educational activities ; have led struggles against take over of irrigated farmlands. We have both been deeply involved with work for Peace – in our region, especially with Pakistan, and for a Nuclear free India, a Nuclear free Asia and Nuclear Free World.

Laxminarayan [Ramu] Ramdas

(Admiral Ramdas filed a petition in the Supreme Court on January 30, 2018 asking the Suprme Court to investigate the death of Judge Loya and the curcumstances around it)

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Indians Protest India’s Slide into Extremism: UK

Sat, 27 Jan 2018 08:42:41 +0000

UK progressive South Asians came together on the evening of India’s Republic Day, in a moving candlelit protest in remembrance of victims of Hindu supremacist forces in mob lynchings, murders and assassinations, with protesters holding large photographs including those of Junaid Khan, Pehlu Khan, Pastor Sultan Masih, Zafar Hussein, Otara Bibi Afrazul Khan. They also highlighted the assassination of Gauri Lankesh for courageously exposing the Hindu Right’s activities and the mysterious death of Justice Loya .

Less than a week ago UK’s progressive South Asian organisations and Dalit groups had marched in their thousands to hand in a memorandum to President Kovind only to be told that their letter was not to be accepted under orders from the Indian government. Today, South Asia Solidarity Group and the SOAS India Society said, in their statement:

‘The Indian government may not want to see our letter but the Modi government has nowhere to hide because the world is watching its crimes against its own people.’

The protest’s main demands were

that the killers and attackers and propagators of hate be brought to justice
the Constitution be protected and upheld, the BJP must not be allowed to pursue it avowed project of replacing Ambedkar’s Constitution and its principles with the Manusmriti
and that the many political prisoners like severely disabled Professor G.N.Saibaba, Dalit leader Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan and the young Kashmiri photojournalist Kamran Yousuf be immediately released and the fake charges against them be dropped

Nirmala Rajasingham on behalf of South Asia Solidarity Group said : ‘We stand with the many, many Indians who are rising in grief and rage against the horrificviolence choreographed by the Hindu supremacist Modi regime and its openly fascist parent organisation the RSS. Here in the UK too these Hindu organisations are spreading their casteist venom and virulent Islamophobia. We will continue to confront them as we pledge to resist India’s descent into a Republic of Fear ‘

Rutuja Deshmukh of SOAS India Society said
‘From the lynchings of Muslims in the name of the cow, to the attack on a school bus over a film, and Justice Loya’ s mysterious death, there are more than enough reasons to conclude that the Indian state is turning into a fascist regime sooner than anyone imagined. It is our duty as responsible citizens to resist this advent of fascism.

Satpal Muman of the Dr Ambedkar Memorial Committee of Great Britain which also supported the vigil said: We are deeply concerned about the horrific attacks on Dalits which have escalated vastly under the Modi regime, about the hatred and violence against minorities and on all those who simply tell the truth. We cannot stand by while the democratic fabric of India is being threatened by the rise of Hindu supremacy

Also present at the vigil was Imran Dawood who had witnessed the murder of his familymembers who were visiting Gujarat on holiday from the UK, during the Gujarat massacresof 2002, while Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat

The full statement of the organisers South Asia Solidarity Group and the SOAS Indian Society is as follows:

This year has seen a continuation of the epidemic of mob lynching in which Muslims have been the main target. Whether the pretext has been claims of eating beef, cattle trading, so-called ‘love jihad’ or simply travelling while Muslim, these attacks have been instigated and organized by the network of vigilante groups and paramilitaries linked to the ruling BJP government and the openly fascist organisation which inspires and directs it, the RSS. Those who have been brutally murdered range from 15-year-old Junaid beaten to death in a train in UP, to Pehlu Khan lynched by cow vigilantes on a Rajasthan road.

Their deaths have been met by resounding silence from the Prime Minister, justifications from his ministers, and waves of celebration from the army of hideously abusive online right-wing trolls, many of whom are followed by Narendra Modi, the man who himself oversaw the 2002 genocide of Muslims in Gujarat when he was Chief Minister.

On December 6, millions of people witnessed the horror of Afrazul Khan, a migrant worker from Bengal, being hacked to death and burnt alive in Rajasthan, with the carnage being sickeningly videoed and circulated online by the perpetrator and his 14-year-old nephew. That the perpetrator Shambhulal was very far from a mentally disturbed lone wolf was confirmed by the celebrations of his crime and the protests against his arrest organized by the Hindu right wing organizations linked to the government, culminating in the replacing of the Indian flag by the saffron flag (representing Hindu supremacist power) atop the High Court building in Udaipur. Equally chilling was the fact that the murder was clearly pre-planned to take place on the anniversary of the demolition by RSS footsoldiers of the historic 16th century Babri Masjid (mosque) in 1992.

December 2017 saw the continuation of attacks on Christians which have involved brutal assaults on churches and pastors, with the authorities colluding in the persecution of people celebrating Christmas in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, where carol singers were first attacked by Hindu right-wing groups and then arrested by the police.

This year has also seen the intensification of attacks on Dalits, and brutal attempts to crush their ongoing resistance to caste oppression, by the forces of the Hindu right. In UP where the rabidly communal and casteist hate preacher Yogi Adityanath was made Chief Minister in March 2017, we witnessed the burning of Dalit villages and the sexual assaults on Dalit women by upper caste mobs in Saharanpur. This was followed by the arrest of Chandrashekhar Azad (Raavan) the leader of the Bhim Army, a Dalit Human Rights Group. While Chandrashekhar Azad was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court on November 2, with the court observing that charges against him were “politically motivated” , the very next day the Uttar Pradesh government slapped the National Security Act (NSA) against him in an effort to silence him.

Most recently, as 2018 began, Hindu right wing terror groups carried out attacks on thousands of Dalit families who had gathered at Bhima Koregaon village in Maharashtra to commemorate the 200th anniversary of a battle which is central to Dalit identity.. Instead of arresting the key organisers of this violence (one of whom is a close associate of Modi) the police have carried out a witch hunt of Dalit youth and children, beating them up and arresting them on fabricated charges and telling their parents that these minors will be in prison for years.

Meanwhile the Modi government is ruthlessly seeking to silence all those who dissent from its agenda of creeping fascism. The cold-blooded assassination on September 5, 2017 of the courageous journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bangalore, who had fearlessly criticized and exposed the BJP and its associated groups, brought thousands onto the streets in mourning and protest. While the mainstream media have become loyal mouthpieces for the Modi government, whipping up hysteria against all those who criticize the government, alternative critical media outlets like The Wire have been threatened with massive lawsuits when they expose the terror unleashed by the Modi regime and its endemic corruption. We learnt too about the suspected murder of Justice Loya, the judge who dared to insist that Modi’s right- hand man Amit Shah appear in court in the Sohrabuddin murder case. And now the interference by the Modi-appointed Chief Justice in the investigation of Justice Loya’s death has led four of the five senior-most Supreme Court judges to take the unprecedented step of holding a press conference to warn of the ‘danger to democracy’ posed by the Modi government. Meanwhile, BJP leaders like Union Minister Anant Kumar Hegde have openly stated their intention to get rid of the Indian Constitution drafted by Ambedkar and its basic principles of liberty equality and fraternity, replacing it with the caste supremacist and misogynist principles of Manusmriti!

At the same time in Kashmir, where the people have long been fighting for their right to self-determination in the face of acute state repression and military occupation, atrocities have further escalated. The BJP, now also sharing power in Srinagar, has shed all pretence of constitutional governance, treating Kashmiris as virtual prisoners of war, and even a tentative recognition of the humanity of Kashmiri youth by a government official is treated as seditious.

As India descends rapidly into open fascism, we cannot afford to remain silent. We must stand by those whose very existence is under threat. We must show our solidarity with the thousands taking to the streets in India in protest against mob lynching, atrocities on Dalits, assassinations of dissidents and the Islamophobic, caste supremacist far-right regime of Narendra Modi.

#NotInMyName #ResistTheRepublicOfFear #NoToFascismInIndia
South Asia Solidarity Group www.southasiasolidarity.org @SAsiaSolidarity and SOAS India Society

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Judicial Inquiry Into Death of Loya Must: Ramdas

Mon, 27 Nov 2017 06:03:12 +0000

Retired Indian Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Ramdas, has in a letter to Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, urged that a special, judicial inquiry needs to go into the shocking circumstances behind Judge Loya’s death. The Caravan Daily had broken this story last week after which it was re-published on Sabrangindia.

In this letter, Admiral Ramdas, who is also recipient of the Magsaysay Award for Peace stresses how crucial this investigation is for the health of any democracy.

Text of letter:
All Democracies exist and survive on three main pillars – namely the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary. Freedom from British rule, was won after a prolonged struggle and The Indian Constitution was evolved after nearly two and a half years of debate in the Constituent Assembly, and passed on November 26, 1949 and India became a Republic on January 26, 1950. Our Constitution became effective. This one and only holy book which matters, subscribes to the above concept of our Democracy, wherein all our citizens are considered to be equal in the eyes of the law.

This is all the more important when a CBI judge, Justice Loya, specially appointed by the CJI of the Mumbai High Court to investigate the murder of Sohrabbudin , dies under mysterious circumstances while on a visit to Nagpur. The silence of the two judges who apparently persuaded the late Judge Loya to travel to Nagpur, and accompanied him, is disturbing to say the least. The inaction of the judiciary about this sequence of events thus far is indeed surprising. This is all the more puzzling in the context of the recent revelations by family members of the late Justice Loya, who have raised certain questions, apprehending foul play in the circumstances leading to his sudden death.

A judicial probe at this point, at least to respond to the queries raised by the family, and to uphold the image of the judiciary in the eyes of the people of India, is absolutely necessary.

As a former Chief of the Indian Navy, I feel strongly that it is critically important to clear any doubts about this entire incident. Therefore in the larger interests of the nation and its people, and above all in upholding the Constitution of India and the image of our entire legal system, a high level judicial enquiry be initiated immediately.

It is to be hoped that serious note will be taken of this communication.

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