COVID-19 protests: Supreme Court allows Himachal Pradesh to withdraw cases against MLAs/MPs

The Supreme Court on Wednesday permitted Himachal Pradesh government to withdraw prosecutions in 45 criminal cases registered by the State police against sitting and former lawmakers during the COVID-19 pandemic in connection with protests and voicing of public grievances.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana set aside Himachal Pradesh High Court's decision to permit withdrawal of only 20 of the 65 cases involving Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

The High Court’s approval was required in view of the apex court’s 2021 judgment in the Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay case, which mandates strict judicial scrutiny to curb the misuse of executive power in dropping prosecutions against lawmakers.

Today, the top court said that none of the cases involving the lawmakers in Himachal Pradesh disclosed the commission of grave or heinous crimes.

It also noted that in the four of the 45 cases not permitted to be withdrawn by the High Court, the trials resulted in acquittal or "dismissal".

"None of these cases disclose commission of any grave or heinous crime, nor do they suggest that the accused are hardened criminals. The allegations against the public representatives essentially relate to their participation in dharnas and/or voicing grievances of the general public before different forums," it noted.

The Court observed that COVID-19 presented extraordinary circumstances and that pursuing these matters will not yield any public benefit.

"Continuation of these proceedings would neither serve the cause of administration of the criminal justice system nor benefit public interest. Rather, these proceedings would consume the time of the courts at the cost of other serious or contentious cases which are required to be decided expeditiously," the Bench added.

Earlier, the State had invoked Section 269 (acts likely to spread infectious disease) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act against the accused over alleged unlawful assembly. The accused in the cases were also booked for criminal intimidation, and burning of effigies during the pandemic.

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