The Indian Supreme Court Thursday said it was “surprised”, “shocked” and “sorry” to know that over 4,000 criminal cases were pending against sitting and former lawmakers.
Some of these cases date to as far back as the 1980s, the court said.
A bench led by Justice N.V. Ramana was hearing a PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who has sought a lifetime ban on politicians convicted in criminal cases, from contesting elections.
“So many cases are pending at the initial stage because of influence of legislators (FIRs are not filed) and they (legislators) hang the sword over investigations,” Justice Ramana remarked during the hearing.
In March, the court had directed all 24 high courts to provide data on criminal cases that are pending against current and former MPs as well as MLAs.
Senior advocate Vijay Hansaria and lawyer Sneha Kalita, who are assisting the bench as amicus curiae, were told to collate data, prepare a report and apprise the court regarding status of the pending cases.❏
