Judge refuses to hear Soren plea

Union Minister and JMM leader Shibu Soren’s plea to quash an arrest warrant issued against him in the 1975 Chirrudih massacre case was ...

Union Minister and JMM leader Shibu Soren’s plea to quash an arrest warrant issued against him in the 1975 Chirrudih massacre case was not entertained today by a judge of the Jharkhand High Court who said it would be technically improper for him to hear the petition.

Recalling that he was Jamtara’s judicial magistrate at the time of the massacre — the warrant against Soren has been issued by a Jamtara court — and had himself recorded the dying declaration of one of the accused, Justice Laxman Oran said the matter should be heard by any other bench decided by the Chief Justice.

In New Delhi, Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav asked Soren to resign and ‘‘abide by the law.’’

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Disapproving Soren’s behaviour, Laloo said it did not behove a party leader and minister: ‘‘He did not seek my advice. If he had, I would have told him to let the law take its own course, offer himself for arrest and resign.’’

Laloo recalled that he had offered himself for arrest when the court orders had come.

‘‘I gave up chief ministership of the state and called up the police on my own. I told them to come and arrest me. I was Chief Minister, I could not have absconded. Laloo Yadav couldn’t have hidden anywhere.’’

He refrained from saying anything about the Opposition demand for his own resignation since he was a ‘‘chargesheeted, tainted’’ minister.

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