September 9, 2018

This peculiar case has reached the Supreme Court, which was left wondering as to how this kind of a "joke" was allowed to happen in a Court of law in India.

The case, involving a former minister of Jharkhand & his MLA wife, saw the lower court Judge in Hazaribagh putting these accused on trial by pronouncing the order framing charges against them through a 'WhatsApp' call.

Former Jharkhand minister Yogendra Sao & his wife Nirmala Devi, who're accused in a rioting case of 2016, were granted bail last year by the SC which had imposed a condition that they shall stay in Bhopal &  not enter Jharkhand except for attending the Court proceedings.

Both the accused have now told the Supreme Court that the trial judge had on 19th April this year framed charges against them through a 'WhatsApp' call despite they raising objections to it.

A bench comprising Justice S A Bobde & Justice L N Rao took serious note of the submissions & said, "What is happening in Jharkhand. This process cannot be allowed and we cannot allow administration of justice to be brought into disrepute".

"We are here on the way of trial being conducted through WhatsApp. This cannot be done. What kind of a trial is this? Is this a kind of joke?" the bench asked the counsel appearing for Jharkhand.

The bench issued notice to Jharkhand on the plea by both the accused, who've sought transfer of their cases from Hazaribagh to New Delhi, & asked the state to respond to it within 2 weeks.

Jharkhand's counsel told the SC that Sao has been violating the bail condition & had been out of Bhopal most of the time due to which proceedings in the case were delayed.

To this, the bench observed, "That's a different thing. If you have a problem with violation of bail conditions by the accused, you can file a separate application seeking cancellation of bail. We make it clear that we've no sympathy with those who've violated bail condition."

Senior Adv. Vivek Tankha, appearing for the couple, said that the accused were granted bail on December 15, 2017 by the apex court in the case & they were directed to stay in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh as a bail condition. "

The trial was directed to be conducted through video conferencing from district court in Bhopal & district court in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand," he said.

Tankha said that video conferencing connectivity was most of the times "very low" in Bhopal & Hazaribagh district courts & the April 19 order was pronounced by the trial judge through 'WhatsApp' call.

The bench asked Tankha as to how many cases were pending against both the accused. Tankha said that 21 cases were pending against Sao, while 9 cases were pending against his wife.

"They're both politicians & have led various protests against land acquisition done by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in Jharkhand & most of these cases relate to those agitations," he said. Tankha said that since both the them were lawmakers at the time of filing of these cases, the trial in these matters should be transferred to the special court in Delhi which is exclusively dealing with cases involving politicians.

Both Devi & Sao were accused in the case relating to violent clashes between villagers & police in 2016 in which 4 persons were killed. Sao had become a minister in the Hemant Soren government in August 2013.

According to police, Devi had led an agitation against NTPC authorities for their alleged attempt to forcefully evacuate villagers from Barkagaon without giving them due compensation/rehabilitation.

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