What is scandalous about Judge Loya's probe?
- Vinod Chand
If you want to understand what is scandalous about Judge Loya's probe, read on;
The first scandalous thing is that the lawyers who were defending Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin Encounter Case became lawyers for Maharashtra Government to fight for stopping an inquiry into the death.
The second scandalous thing was that a person close to a top BJP leader moved a PIL in the Supreme Court and during the hearing instead of asking for a probe into the death turned into a litigant that was asking for stopping a probe into the death as by then it had dawned on him that the PIL that he had filed was based on hearsay and stories in a magazine.
The third scandalous thing was that the PIL by Bombay Lawyers Association was filed in Bombay High Court but was kept pending by the registry for several days and surreptitiously two PIL's were filed in the Supreme Court and immediately accepted leaving the Bombay Lawyers Association no option but to move their PIL to the Supreme Court.
The fourth scandalous thing has already been detailed by the four Supreme Court Judges in their unprecedented in history, press conference where they questioned the method of operation of the Supreme Court and the allotment of cases to benches that could give favorable orders.
The fifth scandalous thing was that Maharashtra Government commissioned a 'discrete inquiry' by a Police Officer, which was completed in a matter of days and which became the main document relied on by the Supreme Court even though neither the inquiry report nor the statements given by any of those who had been supposedly interrogated by the said senior police officer came on affidavit. They just made plain statements as ordinary citizens and not under oath. This has set very dangerous precedents for the justice delivery system. The scandalous thing is that would all courts now accept plain statements not made under oath as acceptable on record in any / all cases?
The sixth scandalous thing was that no person who had been subjected to an inquiry by the Police Officer was called for questioning by the court or allowed to be cross questioned even when repeated requests were made by the petitioners, Bombay Lawyers Association through their lawyer Dushyant Dave.
The seventh scandalous thing was that the petitioners were denied copies of post mortem and ECG reports during the hearing of the case.
The biggest scandal is that the mere words of some persons who did not even come to the Supreme Court on oath were accepted as gospel truth due to the position that they held as judges in Bombay High Court and subordinate courts.
The rejection of Judge Loya's death probe request will go down as probably the darkest hour in the history of free and modern India. We have hit the nadir, the lowest point. Our whole justice system now seems to resemble a scandal. It looks like that all established judicial procedures have been set aside to save the skin of one person and in doing that justice has been denied.
If people don't wake up to this reality, there is hardly any hope left for the country.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress cites Maniben Patel's diary entries, asks Rajnath to apologise for Babri claim
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Saturday shared diary entries of Vallabhbhai Patel's daughter from a book to rebut Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's claim that India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds, and demanded that Singh apologise for spreading "falsehoods".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, claimed the defence minister was spreading falsehoods to “improve his relationship” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Here is Maniben's original diary entry in Gujarati on pages 212-213 in the book ‘Samarpit Padchhayo Sardarno’ by CA R S Patel 'Aaresh', published by Sardar Patel Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Society, 2025,” Ramesh said on X, sharing screenshots of the relevant pages from the book.
“There is a huge difference between what is contained in the original diary entry and what Rajnath Singh ji and his fellow ‘distorians’ are propagating,” Ramesh said.
“The Defence Minister must apologise for the falsehoods he is spreading, simply to improve his relationship with the PM,” he claimed.
The Congress had earlier termed Singh's claim that Nehru wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds a “lie” and “WhatsApp university story”, and said the defence minister should not walk in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's path.
Addressing a gathering at Sadhli village in Gujarat's Vadodara district last Tuesday, Singh said Nehru wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds, but Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel didn't allow his plans to succeed.
The BJP had cited a book by Vallabhbhai Patel's daughter to double down on Singh's claims, and said the first prime minister also said he felt "repelled" by some of the temples in south India despite their beauty.
“The source of what Rajnath Singh said is the 'Inside Story of Sardar Patel, Diary of Maniben Patel'," BJP Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi had said at a press conference at the party headquarters while responding to media queries on the issue.
Trivedi claimed that on Page 24 of the book, it is written that Nehru also raised the question of the Babri mosque, but Sardar Patel made it clear that the government could not spend any money on building a mosque.
