SC stays Lok Sabha breach of privilege against senior Jharkhand police officials

Published on:

08 Sep 2020, 6:21 am

The Supreme Court Monday stayed breach of privilege proceedings initiated by the Lok Sabha Secretariat against the high-rank police officials of Jharkhand on the complaint of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) Nishikant Dubey.

Lok Sabha Secretariat had also issued a summon to Superintendent of Police, Deoghar to appear before it which has also been stayed by the top court.

A two-judge bench of Justices L Nageshwara Rao and Hemant Gupta also issued notice to the 'Privileges and Ethics branch' of the Lok Sabha seeking its reply within four weeks.

The Court was hearing a plea by Director General of Police (DGP) of Jharkhand M Vishnu Vardhan Rao challenging the breach of privilege proceedings by Lok Sabha. In his plea, Rao contended that the notice/complaint about the alleged breach of privilege is vague and an exercise without jurisdiction.

Senior advocate Fali S Nariman appeared for the DGP Rao.

In his complaint, Dubey, an MP from Godda constituency in Jharkhand, alleged the misuse of State machinery to implicate him and his family members which, according to him, is hindering his working as a lawmaker.

Jharkhand police also lodged an FIR for alleged forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy against Dubey's wife.