HC nod a must to drop cases on politicians: SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued directions that no criminal case against MPS or MLAS can be withdrawn without an approval of the high court of the concerned state, in a move that significantly clips the powers of the state governments at a time when the top court has expressed grave concern over the criminalisation of politics.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana, said that the direction has to be issued urgently in view of a report by the amicus curiae (lawyer to assist the court) depicting several instances where state governments sought to drop charges against sitting and former legislators.

“We deem it appropriate to direct that no prosecution against a sitting or former MPS or MLAS shall be withdrawn without the leave of the high court,” ordered the bench, which also included justices Vineet Saran and Surya Kant, in a virtual clampdown on misuse of power by the state governments under Section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CRPC) that authorises a prosecutor to seek withdrawal of a criminal case against the accused.

On the same day, another bench, comprising justices Rohinton F Nariman and BR Gavai, warned that the nation is

“losing its patience” in waiting for lawmakers to cleanse politics by making stronger laws to keep out those with criminal antecedents.

Imposing monetary penalty on all major political parties for flouting its directives on disclosure of information about criminal background of their candidates during the 2020 Bihar assembly polls, this bench, in a separate judgment, exhorted lawmakers to “wake up from their deep slumber” to weed out the malignancy of criminalisa