The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted reprieve to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren by staying the trial proceedings against him in a case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over his repeated non-compliance with summons orders in an alleged land case.
The case against Soren has been filed under Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which seeks to punish a person who disobeys a summons issued by a public servant, in this case a summons issued by the ED. The case was filed in 2024 with the ED claiming that Soren refused to appear for questioning despite issuing seven summons.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant issued a notice to the CEO and decided that “in the meantime, the proceedings in this case should be stayed.” Article 174 of the Islamic Penal Code stipulates a maximum penalty of simple imprisonment of one month.
Read also: BJP has forgotten its poll promises, but our government has not: Jharkhand CM Soren
At the same time, the court reminded the ED to focus on the bulk of complaints being investigated against Sorin in relation to the alleged cases.
“We have read in newspapers that you (ED) have major complaints against him. You should focus on that. You will have some constructive results,” the bench, also comprising Justices Joymalia Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, said.
Regarding the present case under Section 174 of the IPC, the bench observed that “these proceedings are intended to prosecute terrorism (to coerce the accused). Your purpose has been served.”
During Soren’s appearance, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and advocate Pragya Baghel said that the current trial is aimed at harassing him as the chief minister of the state.
“The trial is about to end. I am receiving summons after summons. Why do you want to go against the Prime Minister in this way?”
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Kaushik, who appeared for the ED, said: “We issued seven summons. He did not appear even once.”
The court noted that Soren has already been out on bail in the main case related to the alleged land issue for which the summons were issued.
Further, ED stated that such non-cooperation was hampering the investigation of a serious crime of money laundering, involving proceeds of crime worth several hundred crore rupees and despite being a public servant, Soren chose to remain uncooperative and reluctant to join the investigation.
The subpoenas were issued to Soren in connection with an investigation by the Emergency Department into land holdings acquired by Soren from alleged proceeds of crime in connection with an investigation into alleged coal and mining contract fraud. The summons asked him to provide details of all the properties he acquired and owned.
Soren had approached the Supreme Court challenging the Jharkhand High Court’s January 15 refusal to stay proceedings in the case against him under Section 174 IPC including the March 4, 2024 order of the trial court taking cognizance of the ED’s complaint.
“The undisputed fact is that the competent authority under the MCA issued six summonses, the seventh in the form of a letter to the petitioner, and all the summonses were received by the petitioner. The petitioner did not appear before the authority concerned, though he was undoubtedly legally bound to appear personally before the officer concerned,” the SC order said.
Soren had argued in the Supreme Court that he had “justified reasons” for not appearing before the officer in question and that he had sent a response to both the summonses. “In view of the material available on record, this is not a case where the prayer prayed by the petitioner would be accepted at this stage,” the High Commissioner said.
