Mumbai: The Bombay Lawyers Association has decided to file a review petition in the Supreme Court over the dismissal of pleas seeking independent probe into the death of special CBI judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya.
The association, which had filed one of the pleas, said it was disappointed with the apex court’s order on Thursday.
“The petition is not politically motivated. The Supreme Court has misunderstood our prayers. We were seeking the truth. There is no ulterior motive. We have nothing to do with any political party. We will file a review petition or curative petition,” said Ahmad Abdi, president of the association.
He expressed confidence that the court would accept the prayers.
“It comes as a surprise. A discreet inquiry was done by Maharashtra government. That should not have been accepted by the court. A proper probe should have been ordered. We were discouraged to follow up this case since powerful people were involved,” added Abdi.
He added that the order sends a “wrong” signal to lower judiciary. He added that media perception has led the court to believe that the petitioners are politically motivated.
“We have provided sufficient material to court that leads one to believe there is suspicion surrounding judge Loya’s death. Our prayers have been misunderstood by the apex court. It is a setback. An independent probe would have cleared the doubts in the minds of people, and restored confidence in the minds of people about judiciary. We will continue the fight,” he added.
Dismissing a batch of petitions on Thursday, the top court ruled that Justice Loya, who was hearing the high-profile Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, had died of natural causes and the petitions were a serious attempt to scandalise and obstruct the course of justice.The apex court also held that all litigations concerning circumstances of death of judge Loya were concluded with the judgment.
The top court dubbed the PILs as frivolous and motivated litigations to settle political scores, and that rivalry was behind the "facade of the PIL" to malign the dignity of judicial officers and Bombay High Court judges.
Loya had died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014 when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague's daughter.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud said there was no reason to doubt the statements of four judges on the circumstances leading to Loya's death and the documents placed on record and their scrutiny established that the death was due to natural cause.
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