Loya Case: Maharashtra Government Says Statements Of Four Judges As “Natural” And ‘Unimpeachable’.

The Maharashtra Government has told the Supreme Court the statements of four judges, who were with special CBI judge BH Loya on the last day of his life, and had termed his death as “natural”, were “unimpeachable”.
Loya, who was hearing the high-profile Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, had died allegedly of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014 when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague’s daughter.
“According to me, statements of four judges (J Kulkarni, J Barde, J Modak and JRR Rathi) are unimpeachable that the death of Loya was natural and unfortunate.
“The judges were with Loya since November 29 to December 1, 2014. The statements were signed by the judges. Are not they trustworthy?” senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Maharashtra, told a Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra.
Referring to judgments on PILs), he said the SC amended its rules and laid down guidelines as to who can file PILs to ensure that motivated petitions are discouraged and not entertained.
Alleging that petitioners were “creating castle in the air”, Rohatgi said the PILs cannot be based on unconfirmed and “hearsay” media reports solely, and the courts should verify the credentials of such petitioners.
Referring to contents of petitions, including those filed by Congress leader Tehseen Poonawala and journalist B Lone, Rohatgi said they had only relied upon unconfirmed news reports, published November last year onwards, and filed PILs without any further detail and they “are now arguing as if these are murder appeals”.
“Nobody, including petitioners, did anything for last three years and now they have come out of slumber. They are saying that they want to protect the judiciary. However, they are standing for scandalising the judiciary,” Rohatgi said. Rohatgi will resume arguments on February 16.