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Giriraj Kishore, veteran VHP leader, passes away

NEW DELHI: This is unbelievable yet true – the Supreme Court's contempt notice seeking personal presence of one of the most visible Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders, Giriraj Kishore , was not served on him for two decades.Stranger still, the court was not aware that the one-time fiery leader, who was also an accused in cases relating to the 1992 demolition of the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid structure at Ayodhya, passed away on July 13 at the VHP head-quarters, four months after he appeared before the bench on a wheelchair on March 26.Oblivious of Kishore's death, a constitution bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha on Wednesday dropped contempt of court charges against him citing his old age and the fact that the notice was not served on him.The court had initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against Kishore on a petition by senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan on April 12, 1994, accusing him of making derogatory remarks against the Supreme Court when it was seized of the constitutional validity of Acquisition of Certain Area at Ayodhya Act, 1993 and a presidential reference on a related issue.On May 6, 1994, the court took suo motu cognizance of the criminal contempt by certain publications which published the alleged derogatory remarks of Kishore against the SC. It asked Kishore to be present in court during the next date of hearing.After two decades, on March 25 this year, Kishore's counsel Pallav Sisodia told a bench of Justices Lodha, A R Dave, S J Mukhopadhaya, Dipak Misra and S K Singh that the May 6, 1994 notice seeking his client's personal appearance had not yet been served.Kishore appeared before the court on a wheelchair on March 26. Sisodia said no purpose would be served by continuing with the contempt proceedings as the contemnor was 96 years old and suffered from "hearing impairment and feeble mental condition".The court found out from the registry that "the notice for personal appearance accompanied by charges as directed by this court in the order dated May 6, 1994, after cognizance of contempt was taken, has not been served on Kishore so far". It asked Dhawan whether the notice accompanied by charges should be served now.Dhawan contended that the backdrop of these cases was the destruction of Babri Masjid which injured the secular fabric of India. He insisted that the contemptuous statements made by Kishore two decades ago were grave and should not be left undecided.The bench said, "We appreciate the gravity of the subject matter highlighted by Rajeev Dhawan. We are also not oblivious of the fact that the court was not satisfied prima facie with the initial response filed by Giriraj Kishore and ordered on May 6, 1994 to initiate contempt proceedings against him and others."But the fact of the matter is that despite the May 6, 1994 order, the notice accompanied by charges on Giriraj Kishore has not been served so far. In this view of the matter, at this distance of time, when the subject matter remained dormant for almost two decades and now Kishore is 96 years and he is not able to respond to the charges due to old age and illness, we do not think this a fit case where we should deal with the matter further."