Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave has recently penned an article on death of Judge Loya. In the article, Dave has alleged conflict of interest on the part of Senior Advocate Pallav Shishodia. Shishodia had appeared for one of the petitioners, Bandhuraj Lone, in the PIL filed in Supreme Court seeking probe into the death of Judge Loya.

In the piece, Dave has argued that Shishodia had appeared for Amit Shah in 2011 in the appeal filed by the CBI challenging the grant of bail to Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin encounter case.

Shishodia has now responded to Dave’s allegation. Below is his response in full.

“I shall continue to appear in the matter of Judge Loya for petitioner Bandhuraj Lone to press for an independent probe. As the matter is sub- judice and everyone shall have opportunity to watch and report submissions in open court, I do not consider it appropriate to make further comment on the merits of the matter.

As for suggestion of conflict of interest on my part, I am not able to understand the underlying premise. It appears a very convoluted logic to construe a prayer for an independent probe as an exercise for or against any of the suspects in the matter.

There is also one  thought I would wish to share with discerning readers. In a recent interview, Obama says that in hyper times we live, democracy is not about rival points of view but your facts versus my facts. All those who entertain doubt about universe of facts you live in are suspects. All those who disagree with your facts are sinners.

The need for truth cannot be underscored better in a noisy democracy.”