New Delhi: As many as 4,122 criminal cases are pending against sitting and former MPs and MLAs in the country, of which 430 are for offences punishable with imprisonment for life or death sentence. These numbers came to light when amicus curiae Vijay Hansaria submitted a report before the Supreme Court, which had sought detailed data on the cases pending against sitting and former MPs and MLAs, so that special courts could be set up for expediting trial.
His report shows that while 2,324 cases are pending against sitting lawmakers, charges have not been framed in 1,991 cases, while 264 cases are pending because of stay granted by different High Courts.
Senior counsel Hansaria, along with Sneha Kalita, is assisting the Apex Court as amicus curiae in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by lawyer and BJP leader Aswhini Upadhyay, seeking a life ban on politicians convicted in criminal cases, apart from setting up of special courts to expedite such cases.
Interestingly, Upadhyay’s own party had promised before the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 that all tainted MPs and MLAs would be put behind bars if it was voted to power. Hansaria told the court that special designated courts in all districts of 18 states should be set up for the speedy trial of these cases.
The report says that 992 cases, almost one-fourth of the total, are pending in Uttar Pradesh alone, followed by 331 in Odisha, while more than 300 cases are pending in Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Maharashtra.
As per the report, these cases are pending in 440 out of 724 districts across the country. While 505 cases are pending in various sessions courts, 1,928 cases are pending in magistrate courts, 33 in special courts under statutes, while 1,650 cases have been transferred to special courts for MPs/MLAs.
In Uttar Pradesh, all 992 cases have been transferred to the special court for MPs and MLAs, headed by an additional sessions judge-rank officer, in Allahabad. Similarly, in Madhya Pradesh, all 292 cases have been transferred to the special court in Bhopal.
As many as 22 FIRs are registered against former Samajwadi Party MP Ateeq Ahmed, of which 10 are for offences punishable with imprisonment for life or death sentence and are pending at various stages. Twelve FIRs have been registered against former MLA Pawan Kumar Pandey between 1989 and 2017, of which three are related to life imprisonment/death sentence.
Others against whom FIRs are registered include Khalid Azeem, Upendra Tiwari, Chote Lal Gangwar. Trial against Kerala MLA M.M. Mani is yet to begin. Former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa has 18 cases pending against him, of which 14 are punishable with life imprisonment.
The report says that charges have not been framed in three TADA cases against Kandhalbhai Sarmanbhai Jadeja, a sitting NCP MLA from Gujarat. Four sitting and former MLAs in Odisha have more than 100 criminal cases pending against them.
The Supreme Court has now directed the High Courts to assign and allocate these pending cases to as many lower courts to expedite their disposal. The SC also said that these directions will be applicable to Bihar and Kerala to start with and will then be reviewed accordingly.