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Journalism of Courage
The Patna High Court has ordered the dismissal of a fast track court judge in Siwan for granting bail to RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin and allowing him to attend Parliament in violation of an earlier HC order.
The high court has also ordered a CBI inquiry into the circumstances under which the Siwan MP was allowed to travel to Delhi. The inquiry, said sources, would cover the conduct of the judge, A.P. Srivastava, too.
The HC had earlier this year rejected the bail plea of Shahabuddin, accused in the kidnapping and murder of one Munna Choudhary. Shahabuddin had been in Siwan Sadar Hospital after he complained of ill health. But earlier this week, the high court ordered that the MP be transferred to jail ‘‘within 48 hours’’ and he has been lodged there since.
Besides Shahabuddin, the court has caught up with several other not-so-law-abiding politicians of Bihar.
The Supreme Court recently ordered former Purnea MP Pappu Yadav, who had been spending most of his time in the Patna Medical College Hospital, to be transferred to Beur Jail. Yadav is accused in the case of the murder of CPI(M) leader Ajit Sarkar. He had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha polls from Purnea on a Lok Janashakti Party ticket.
The apex court has also ordered Janata Dal (United) MP Prabhunath Singh to surrender in a court in Bhagalpur in a case related to the murder of four persons. Prabhunath had been evading arrest for several years.
Suraj Bhan Singh, LJP MP from Balia who is wanted in a murder case, is still on the run. While still an absconder, he had campaigned and contested the Lok Sabha polls from Balai on an LJP ticket and emerged victorious.
An arrest warrant issued against him by a court in Barh had been pending, and the state police recently initiated attempts to arrest him only after a petition was filed in the HC.
Rama Singh, an LJP MLC, was recently arrested in a kidnapping case and is now behind bars.
