Patna: The Patna High Court on Tuesday stayed
the criminal proceedings of a lower court against Bihar Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar in connection with a case related to the
killing of a Congress activist in 1991.
Justice Sima Ali Khan, while hearing Nitish's petition
seeking quashing of the criminal proceedings initiated against
him in the subordinate court in Barh, asked Additional Chief
Judicial Magistrate Ranjan Kumar to stay the proceedings and
asked him to send the records to the high court.
Khan also ordered that soon after receiving the
records from the Barh court, the matter be listed before the
court in the list of 20 most important cases for ensuring
speedy disposal.
The high court asked for records of the proceedings
with respect to the FIR lodged by Ashok Singh with the
Pandarak police station charging them with the killing of
Sitaram Singh. Based on the complaint, the ACJM had summoned
Nitish and one Dularchand Yadav to appear before it on
September 9.
Khan yesterday stayed the summons against Nitish and
Yadav issued by the Barh court on August 31.
Sitaram Singh was killed in a firing at a polling
booth at Barh during the Lok Sabha elections on November 16,
1991.
Ranjan Kumar had said that a prima facie case for
offence under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with
deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 302 (murder), 307
(attempt to murder) of IPC and 17 Arms Act was made out
against Nitish and Dularchand.
In the petition filed on January 20 before the Barh
court, Ashok Singh, a resident of Dhibar village, had charged
Kumar with firing from a gun leading to Sitaram's death.
Sitaram and others had queued up before a polling
booth for casting their ballots for the 1991 Lok Sabha by-poll
in which Nitish was in fray on a ticket of the undivided
Janata Dal, Singh said in his petition.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, September 08, 2009, 18:50