Terming the Sunanda murder case as “serious”, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy to argue on the maintainability. The apex court was considering Swamy’s appeal seeking to stay the Delhi High Court judgment questioning his locus standi in the case. In his brief argument before the apex court, Swamy blamed the Delhi Police for complete inaction and inordinate delay in the Sunanda murder case.

But in the fifth sitting a new Judge – Justice Muralidhar – was posted and he, on the very sitting, dismissed the case without allowing Swamy to argue. In his judgment, he even termed Swamy’s petition as politically motivated and described the petition as “textbook case of a political interest litigation”.

The bench comprising of Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy told Swamy that he has to first satisfy the court on whether his plea was maintainable. “Before going into the merits, we need to be satisfied on maintainability,” the bench told Swamy who said that it is a matter of public interest. The next hearing is posted after three weeks.

In his appeal, Swamy challenged the Delhi High Court Judgment of Justice Muralidhar and many of his observations against Swamy[1]. The BJP leader told the apex court that, somehow the judgment of Delhi High Court judge questioned his political leanings. “This is against the landmark Bhajan Lal case,” he said, seeking a stay of the HC Judgment and issuing a notice to Delhi Police. Swamy pointed out that even after the AIIMS autopsy and postmortem reports clearly cited the matter as unnatural death, Delhi Police have not yet moved an inch in the probe. He also pointed out the role of Indian Premier League (IPL) lobbies and betting syndicates involved in the Sunanda case.

He said that it took nearly a year for the Delhi Police to lodge a First Information Report (FIR) in the case when the post-mortem report said that Pushkar had died an unnatural death[2]. After enquiring about the status of the case from Swamy, the Judges asked him to argue on the issue of maintainability and posted the matter for hearing after three weeks.

Swamy has moved the apex court after the Delhi High Court had in October last year dismissed his plea seeking a probe by a court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) into Pushkar’s death. The Delhi High Court had on October 26, last year, rejected the plea.

Swamy also pointed out that in Delhi High Court, his matter was argued for four sittings and the judge had issued a notice to Delhi Police and sought a fixed timeline. Earlier the case was heard by Justice GS Sistani. In the fourth sitting, Delhi Police sought eight weeks to finish the probe. But in the fifth sitting a new Judge – Justice Muralidhar – was posted and he, on the very sitting, dismissed the case without allowing Swamy to argue. In his judgment, he even termed Swamy’s petition as politically motivated and described the petition as “textbook case of a political interest litigation”. The Judge also said Swamy never disclosed that he was from the BJP and Sunanda’s husband Shashi Tharoor was from Congress. Interestingly the judgment had no concern about the delay in the probe on the mysterious death of Sunanda.

In his appeal before the apex court, Swamy said the Justice Muralidhar’s judgment was totally flawed and his observations were against the spirit of landmark judgments regarding public interest litigations. The appeal said that the new Justice Muralidhar, without hearing the matter, on the very first day dismissed the petition, the new judge also did not consider the previous Judge Justice Sistani’s directives to Delhi Police also, said the appeal of Swamy.

References:

[1] War of words between New Judge and Dr Swamy inside Delhi High Court on Sunanda Murder probe – Oct 12, 2017, PGurus.com

[2] Four years later, Delhi Police is still hushing up the Sunanda Murder case – Jan 16, 2018, PGurus.com