Judge Loya Case: Sad letter day in India's history, says Congress

The Congress on Thursday raised questions over the Supreme Court verdict rejecting a batch of pleas seeking a probe into the alleged death of judge B H Loya and said it was a "sad letter day" in the country's history.

“It is a sad letter day in India's history. The suspicious circumstances in which Loya died, was a matter of deep concern for those who have faith in the judiciary. The copy of the entire judgment is not yet available. But there are still questions before those who believe in the judiciary,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters here.

Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party and demanding a fair probe into the matter, Surjewala raised 10 questions relating to the case as he criticised the verdict and noted that issue of criminality can be decided only through a probe, contending that no investigation was done into the death of Loya, who was hearing the high-profile Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. 

“In this background, the BJP's attempt to make false capital out of the Supreme Court judgment must be condemned with strongest possible words,” he added.

Surjewala stressed that the Congress was not among the petitioners seeking a probe into the judge's death and pointed out that the party, along with 14 other opposition parties, had instead approached the people's court and approached President Ram Nath Kovind.

 “The BJP's attempt to misinterpret the Supreme Court judgement reflects their jitteriness and frustration. We reject and condemn the malicious attempts of the BJP to misinterpret the judgement for finger pointing,” he said.

Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi also said that the apex court's verdict dismissing the pleas seeking an independent probe into Loya's death will raise more questions and leave many of them unanswered unless logical reasons were found in it.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said there was no reason to doubt the statements of four judges on the circumstances leading to the judge's death and the documents placed on record and their scrutiny established that the death was due to natural cause.

Loya reportedly died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014 when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague's daughter.  

Immediately after the court gave its verdict, the BJP mounted an attack on the Congress, alleging that the "invisible" hand behind the petitions was that of Gandhi who tried to use the judiciary for "character assassination" of its chief Amit Shah.

(With inputs from PTI)