Troubles Mount for JMM’s Sita Soren After SC’s Verdict on Bribes For Votes Cases

Bribes For Votes: Trouble seems to be mounting for Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLA Sita Soren after Supreme Court on Monday, March 4, overruled the 1998 verdict which granted immunity to law makers from prosecution for accepting bribe in return of casting votes in legislature or making a speech. 

Claiming that accepting bribe destroys the functioning of the Indian parliamentary democracy, the Supreme Court said that an MP or MLA can't claim immunity from prosecution on a charge of bribery in connection with the vote/speech in the Parliament/ Legislative Assembly.

The issue came under Supreme Court's radar after the JMM bribery scandal. 

Sita Soren Accused in the JMM Bribery Scandal 

JMM MLA from Jama and party supremo Shibu Soren's elder daughter-in-law Sita Soren was accused of accepting bribes in return of voting for a particular candidate in Rajya Sabha election in 2012. 

Then, Sita Soren contended that the constitutional provision granting lawmakers immunity from prosecution, which saw her father-in-law being let off the hook in the JMM bribery scandal, be applied to her.

After the Jharkhand High Court refused to quash the criminal case lodged against her, Sita Soren moved to the Supreme Court of India. 

When Shibu Soren Was Accused in Bribery Scandal 

Earlier, Shibu Soren along with four other MPs were accused of accepting bribes to vote against the no-confidence motion threatening the survival of the P V Narasimha Rao government in 1993. The Narasimha Rao government, which was in a minority, survived the no-confidence vote with their support.

The CBI registered a case against Soren and four other JMM Lok Sabha MPs but the Supreme Court quashed it citing immunity from prosecution they enjoyed under Article 105(2) of the Constitution.