The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Pul’s wife withdraws her probe plea from apex court
NOTE BEFORE SUICIDE
EVEN AS the Supreme Court observed on Thursday that the issue concerned the judiciary, Dangwimsai Pul, the first wife of former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul, withdrew her plea that had demanded registration of an FIR and investigation into a note attributed to her husband who allegedly committed suicide on August 9 last year.
Questioning Chief Justice of India J S Khehar’s order to convert her letter into a petition and also the bench before which it came up for hearing, Dangwimsai’s lawyer Dushyant Dave said that she did not want a judicial order on her plea and that she would withdraw in case the judges wanted to adjudicate her contentions based on Pul’s note.
In a 60-page note in Hindi, Pul purportedly wrote about his commitment to probity and alleged corruption by a range of public figures. His allegations named former and serving Supreme Court judges, senior law officers, politicians and other persons holding high office.
One of the charges made in the note was that relatives of two judges had, via some individuals, indicated that they wanted money from Pul in exchange for ensuring that President’s rule in Arunachal would not be declared illegal.
Dangwimsai released her letteraddressedtothecjiandsought an FIR into the accusations and an independentprobe.herletterunderlined that prior permission fromthecjiorotherseniorjudges wasimperativebeforeregistration of the FIR and launching an investigation against members of the higher judiciary.
“This petition is listed under the orders of the CJI. In view of the fact that allegations are against number of political persons and even the President, the matter was considered to be of public interest. However, the court could not go into the issue since the petitioner sought to withdraw it. Hence, the petition is dismissed as withdrawn,” stated the final order of the court.
During the 20-minute hearing on Thursday, Dave protested against listing of the case and made repeated requests for letting her withdraw the plea even though a bench of Justices Adarsh K Goel and Uday U Lalit remarked that the matter was placed before them in pursuant to the CJI’S order and that all the arguments of the senior lawyer were being taken note of.
“Allegations are against so many persons... it concerns this institution. We are taking note of all your arguments,” the bench told Dave, who maintained that a judicial order on her plea would foreclose many of her remedies and that she had written a letter to the CJI only for a decision on the administrative side.
“My letter could not have been listed on the judicial side. Your lordships should not hear it and if you insist on hearing it then we don’t want to participate in these proceedings,” Dave told the judges.
He questioned why this matter had jumped at least 10 other courts and was listed before them. “Justice Goel should not hear this matter since he was a colleague of the CJI when they both were judges in Punjab and Haryana High Court. I am hence entitled to know why this matter was listed here,” contended the lawyer, adding that name of a relative of the CJI had also cropped up in Pul’s note.
At this, Justice Goel responded: “You know rosters are made by the CJI. These things are done under the orders of the CJI... allegations are against so many people.”
Justice Lalit pointed out that the administrative order before them read that the CJI has issued a directive for listing of Dangwimsai’s letter “as per the roster” and that she would have also been informed about the CJI’S order when an intimation for hearing was sent to her.
As Dave refused to budge and said he would want the plea to be withdrawn instead of getting a judicial order on it, Justice Goel, at one point, said: “We can allow you to withdraw your letter but we will have to deal with this petition now. We will do what we think is in the interest of justice.”
However, after the judges had a brief discussion, they said the court would allow them to withdraw the plea. “You ignited this process but now you want to withdraw. So we are letting you withdraw,” Justice Lalit told Dave, and the order was subsequently dictated by Justice Goel.