Cuttack, March 23: Orissa High Court yesterday expressed its displeasure over political conflicts crossing the limits of difference of opinion and bordering on “mudslinging” and “character assassination”.
“Lack of political ideologies appears to be a common feature in such never-ending conflicts. Politics without principle and politicians without character are the most damaging elements of the social order,” the single judge bench of Justice S.K. Sahoo noted, while rejecting a petition filed by deputy leader of the Congress Legislature Party Chiranjib Biswal.
“The petitioner Chiranjiv Biswal even after being elected member of the Legislative Assembly from Jagatsinghpur Assembly constituency on the ticket of National Congress Party is fighting the legal battle against his rival candidate Bishnu Charan Das of the Biju Janata Dal. While describing himself in the petition filed before this court to have hailed from a disciplined, educated and respectable family, the petitioner in a wrong tone of voice has described his opponent as a notorious and destructive element having no regard for law and administration of justice,” Justice Sahoo noted in his order, a copy of is in possession of The Telegraph.
Former minister Bishnu Charan Das, who had lost to Biswal in the 2014 polls, had filed a complaint in the court of the sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Jagatsinghpur.
In his complaint, Das had alleged that Biswal had suppressed facts during filing of his nomination papers. He had not mentioned about the land and property in his native Tulanga village in Tirtol and Laxmisagar area in Bhubaneswar, Das alleged.
In his complaint, Das had also alleged that Biswal had not furnished details about his financial benefits as former managing director and director of a few companies — Karuna Infratech, Karuna AAG Pvt Ltd and Ashirbad Publications.
The SDJM, Jagatsinghpur had allowed the complaint case for adjudication. Biswal had moved to drop the case, but the SDJM rejected his plea. Biswal had challenged it in the high court when the Jagatsinghpur district judge rejected his review petition. On October 13 last year, the high court had issued an interim stay on proceedings in the SDJM court.
The high court, however, expressed disinclination to interfere and dismissed Biswal’s petition yesterday. “The acceptance of the documents filed by the defence or consideration of defence plea by the high court at this stage of cognizance would certainly open flood gate for mini trial and should be discouraged as it is not neither proper nor legal,” the ruling of Justice Sahoo said.
“At this stage, the magistrate has to satisfy whether there is sufficient ground for proceeding and not whether there is sufficient ground for conviction. Whether the evidence is adequate for supporting the conviction can be determined only at the trial stage and not at the stage of inquiry,” the ruling added.
