Justice Kolse Patil on Judge Loya verdict: “Darkest day of Indian Judiciary”

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the Public Interest Litigations (PIL) seeking independent investigation into the death of CBI Judge BH Loya, calling these politically motivated. Judge Loya, who was hearing the case of the Sohrabuddin alleged fake encounter case, in which now BJP President Amit Shah was an accused at the time, had suddenly died in Nagpur in December, 2014, where he had gone to attend a colleague’s daughter’s wedding. His death raised many serious questions. A PIL was filed in Bombay High Court for a fair and unbiased investigation of the matter. The Supreme Court then took over the case. At the time, there was a lot of opposition to this decision by the Supreme Court. One of the most prominent dissenting voices was that of retired Bombay High Court judge, Justice Kolse Patil. Besides saying that Judge Loya died in suspicious circumstances, Justice Patil is among those who openly said that he had information about Judge Loya being offered ₹100 crore in exchange for a ‘favourable’ decision in the case. He had said all this fearlessly at that time and his position remains unchanged. Justice BJ Kolse Patil spoke with National Herald’s Bhasha Singh after the Supreme Court verdict. Watch the video and read excerpts of the interview below:

Supreme Court has given its verdict in Justice Loya case. Your thoughts?

I feel that today will be remembered as one of the darkest days, one of the worst days in the history of Indian Judiciary. In my understanding, nobody can say, nor should anyone say that Justice Loya died a natural death. What was the appeal—that his death should be investigated into? If that’s also not heard, then how...

Many Supreme Court judges also had been raising voice regarding Justice Loya’s case. Why were so many questions overlooked?

Look, on January 12, four judges of the Supreme Court did a historical thing. It was unprecedented in India. They held press conference and said whatever is happening at the Supreme Court is not right. They were unhappy with the Supreme Court with regard to Judge Loya’s case. Moreover, more than 100 MPs had met the President and conveyed that they do not have confidence in the Chief Justice. This is a case directly involving Amit Shah and hence there should have been more transparency in this case.

You had been bringing to light the documents related to Judge Loya’s death for a long time. What will be your course of action now?

See, the documents are now public. Facts will speak for themselves. The time when Justice Loya’s house received the phone call about his death is the first thing mentioned in the post mortem report. His house received the phone call at 5 am that he has died but in post mortem, the time mentioned is 7.15 am. The post mortem and viscera report do not match. There are so many inconsistencies that the matter is now difficult to suppress. Truth can not be repressed. This verdict is a blot on the judiciary.

What next?

We were with the truth and we are with the truth even today. Today various documents are also in public domain. The people of our country are alive and can see the truth. I hope the way anger of the people poured out on the streets in the case of the Dalits, the same may happen in this case too. I would like to say to all the judges that everyone will have to go through the acid test like Sita today.

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