Jhiram valley Maoist attack: High court stays proceedings of judicial commission

RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh high court on Wednesday stayed the enquiry proceedings of a judicial commission newly reconstituted by the state government, which added new terms of reference to an existing enquiry into the 2013 Jhiram Ghati Maoist attack that left 28 Congress leaders dead.

A petition was filed by senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and leader of opposition Dharamlal Kaushik questioning ‘constitutionality’ of the commission on April 13. Kaushik pointed out that the report of the Jhiram Ghati Inquiry Commission headed by justice Prashant Kumar Mishra should have been tabled in legislative assembly within six months of its submission but without submitting the report, the state government reconstituted the judicial commission.

The division bench of chief justice Arup Kumar Goswami and justice RCS Samant has also issued notices to the state government and the judicial commission and sought a reply.

“The court after hearing the petition stayed the enquiry proceedings of the reconstituted judicial commission. The court has also sought reply from the state government and judicial commission on the next hearing which is scheduled on July 4,” said Vivek Sharma, Kaushik’s lawyer.

Meanwhile, the government claimed that they will submit their reply at the next hearing. “The HC has ordered that no hearing will be done by judicial commission till the next hearing. We will submit a reply at the next hearing as directed by the HC,” said Satish Chandra Verma, Chhattisgarh’s advocate general, who appeared before the court in the case.

In December 2021, Chhattisgarh government appointed a new chairman, added another member to the Jhiram Valley enquiry commission and added new terms of reference.

While the state government said the rationale for the change was that Mishra had become the chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh high court, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the move was an attempt to obfuscate the findings of the commission’s report, which has not yet been tabled in the assembly or its contents released, and was a delaying tactic.

The new order appointed justice (retired) Satish K Agnihotri, former chief justice of Sikkim high court, as the new chairman of the commission and justice (retired) G Minhajuddin as a member. The new terms of reference which were added to the commission include whether sufficient medical aid was provided to the victims of the attack after the incident and whether appropriate steps were taken to prevent such incidents.

Among those killed in the Jhiram Ghati Maoist attack were senior Congress leaders Mahendra Karma, Vidya Charan Shukla, and Nand Kumar Patel.