There have been many twists and turns in the Judge Loya case which has lead to so much of political as well as judicial mudslinging. Many political parties have different opinions about the case, many feel he died of unnatural causes and many believe the opposite. It all started like this, Justice Brijgopal Harkishan Loya served in a court in the CBI, Died of cardiac attack on 1 December 2014 in Nagpur. He was working on the famous Soharabuddin case, in which Amit Shah, the current BJP President was getting tried in courts for. Let’s know in detail about Justice loya case from the beginning.

What is Justice Loya Case?

It all started with the caravan magazine’s report published on Nov 20, 2017. The report raised the questions about circumstances of the justice Loya’s death. After the caravan’s report, the media published one more report denying all facts in caravan’s initial report. Let’s go through the sequence of this incidence first.

1) On that day, Justice loya went to Nagpur to attend the marriage of one of his friend Sapna Joshi’s daughter along with four other colleagues Shrikant Kulkarni, SM Modak, VC Barde and Roopesh Rathi. Initially, Justice Loya was not interested at all to go, but two of his colleagues who went with him forced him to come and he agreed later.

2) He called to his wife on Nov 30, 2017, for the last time. On Dec 1st morning his sister received a call informing her that justice Loya died due to heart attack and his body has to be taken to Latur for the post-mortem.

3) According to the colleagues who were with him “We were staying in Ravi Bhavan Nagpur and Justice Loya started feeling severe chest pain due to which we have taken him to Dande hospital in Nagpur in Auto and then the doctor’s from dance hospital referred him to Meditrina hospital Nagpur.” When they reached the Meditrina hospital doctors declared justice loyal as “brought dead”.

Why is Justice Loya Case being used for political gains?

Now the two main questions lie in this entire case here is, firstly, this incident happened in 2014 and the PIL i.e Public Interest Litigation is being filled now? Why? Secondly, Why is this incident being used for mere political gains that the Judges of the Supreme Court are holding a press conference? And that though against the CJI Deepak Mishra. Justice Chelameswar was joined by Justice Rajan Gogoi, Justice Madan B Lokur, and Justice Kurian Joseph, the senior most judges in the Supreme Court of India after the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra.

Read more – Is It True That A Temple Was Demolished For The Construction Of Babri Masjid?

The judges referred to, among other things, an undated letter they had written earlier to the CJI. One of them was the medical college admissions scam that was sent to court no 7 after a Justice Chelameswar headed bench sent it to a five-judge bench of himself, the CJI and Justices Gogoi, Lokur and Joseph. Another one was the controversial Ram Temple issue and repealing of Sec 377.

They also said they wanted to highlight unspecified irregularities in the judiciary and to say that the CJI Mishra isn’t doing anything to remedy the situation, despite the letter they wrote him some months ago. When the Justices were asked if the issues were to do with the Collegium as well, they didn’t confirm or deny it. When asked if CJI Mishra should be removed, one of them said, “Let the nation decide on his impeachment.”They said they sent the CJI the letter but didn’t hear back, and then they met him again this morning, to no avail.

But was this true enough reason for impeachment of an honest judge or the four is merely doing it because of some pacing by the opposition? According to the Indian constitution, The Chief Justice of India can be impeached on 2 grounds, first being an incapacity to function, i.e. blindness, paralysis, lunacy etc, second being gross misconduct, which has to be proven.

The judges also had a grievance that the PIL seeking a probe into Justice Loya’s death was assigned to court no.10 and not to any of the first four benches other than the CJI-led bench. The judges acknowledged that what they were doing in calling a press conference – was highly unusual.

Justice Loya Case: A political capital for Congress!

A number of activists, ‘liberals‘ and the Congress party have attempted to create political capital out of the Supreme Court verdict in the judge BH Loya death case. Interestingly, they did so even though the apex court dismissed pleas seeking a probe into the matter, and severely criticised the petitioners.

The Congress virtually seconded activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan’s statement terming the verdict a “black day in the history of the Supreme Court.” It called the Supreme Court judgment a ‘sad day in India’s history‘. By doing so, party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala not only questioned the judgment in the judge Loya case but also pointed fingers at the very institution of the Supreme Court of India. The Congress appears to have used such terms to criticise the Supreme Court’s judgment merely because the verdict was not one of its choice one which could have helped them fight a political battle against the BJP and its president Amit Shah, who was being tried for the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.

Is Judiciary judicial in Justice Loya case?

The law does not work on intuitions, let alone on conspiracy theories. It works on evidence, and arguments based on the evidence placed on the proverbial table. This holds true for every case, including the one involving the death of CBI CourtJudge BH Loya in 2014. The evidence available has led the apex court to believe that Loya did, indeed, die of natural causes. With four Mumbai judges attesting they were present at the wedding ceremony in Nagpur when Loya had suffered a fatal heart attack. The reason for some petitioners suspecting that the judge’s death was ‘mysterious’ is linked to Loya being the judge hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh ‘fake encounter’ killing case. It can be well-believed that he had come under a lot of ‘political pressure’, like others involved in the case. But to take a leap of reason, based on nothing else but political motive, and implicate a politician as being behind Loya’s ‘murder’, is to leave the woodwork of the courts and enter the paperback of crime thrillers.

Is the Judge Loya case an accident, or a planned murder?

The importance of this case comes from the fact that our judiciary, the only institution where there is neutrality and not politics, where justice is delivered and not political mudslinging is also being a puppet of political parties. Take Justice Chelameshwar for example, he was the one who opposed PM’s meeting, which happens coincide with Good Friday in 2014. Justice Gogoi, who is the son of a popular Congress politician.

The power of the Judiciary is not only to deliver judgements but also to restore faith injustice in the minds of people

If the judiciary starts behaving like parliament and politicians, the country would be in sheer despair. Read out our detailed analysis on is Capital Punishment In India Right Or Wrong?