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State (through) Central Bureau of Investigation v. Shri Kalyan Singh (former CM of UP) & Ors.

Criminal Appeal · 2017 INSC 367Decided 19 Apr 2017
Criminal Appeal No. 751 of 2017
Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

After the demolition of the Babri Masjid on 6 December 1992, two FIRs were lodged: one (No. 197/1992) against the large body of "kar sewaks" who physically carried out the demolition, tried at Lucknow, and another (No. 198/1992) against eight named leaders, including L.K. Advani, Uma Bharati and Murli Manohar Joshi, for inciting the demolition. The CBI had filed a joint chargesheet covering 49 related FIRs and 48 persons, including Kalyan Singh, the then Chief Minister of UP, alleging a criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B IPC) spanning both groups. Over the years, a notification needed to try FIR No. 198 jointly with FIR No. 197 at Lucknow was struck down for lack of proper consultation with the High Court, and the trial court and then the Allahabad High Court ultimately dropped the conspiracy charge against 21 of the accused, including Kalyan Singh and the eight named leaders, treating the "leaders" and the "kar sewaks" as two legally distinct sets of accused facing separate trials at Rae Bareilly and Lucknow.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court had misread its own earlier (2001) ruling, which had expressly upheld a single joint chargesheet precisely because all the offences arose from the same transaction and conspiracy, with essentially the same evidence, so artificially splitting the "leaders" from the "kar sewaks" into separate trials for the same conspiracy was legally wrong and risked two different courts reaching inconsistent findings on the very same conspiracy. Exercising its wide powers under Article 142 to do complete justice, the Court ordered that the proceedings pending at Rae Bareilly be transferred to the Sessions Court at Lucknow and consolidated with the main trial, directed that an additional Section 120-B conspiracy charge be framed against all the previously-dropped accused, and specified there would be no de novo trial: witnesses already examined could be recalled only for limited cross-examination on the new charge. Recognising that Kalyan Singh, by then Governor of Rajasthan, enjoyed personal immunity from criminal proceedings under Article 361 of the Constitution while in that office, the Court directed that charges be framed and proceedings taken against him as soon as he ceased to hold that office. It also set a strict timeline, trial on a day-to-day basis, no unnecessary adjournments, and completion within two years, with liberty to approach the Court again if these directions were not followed.

Lesson Learnt

Courts will not allow artificial splitting of a single alleged criminal conspiracy into separate trials just because some accused are more prominent than others, all persons genuinely implicated in one underlying conspiracy are generally tried together on the same evidence; and a constitutional immunity (like a Governor's immunity under Article 361) only delays, rather than extinguishes, the law's reach once the protected office is vacated.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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