Jharkhand High court rejects Hemant Soren’s criminal writ petition

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s criminal writ petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate was dismissed by the High Court. The court had reserved its decision on February 28. Previously, the Supreme Court had issued a notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding Soren’s plea seeking interim relief in a money laundering case. The Supreme Court bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta listed the matter for the second week of May to hear Soren’s plea. The Supreme Court also mentioned that the Jharkhand High Court could pronounce the order in Soren’s plea challenging his arrest in the money laundering case. The High Court had reserved the order on Soren’s plea on February 28.

Dissatisfied with the High Court’s delay in deciding his plea, Soren approached the Supreme Court and simultaneously sought interim bail. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Soren, informed the Supreme Court that the High Court had not yet passed an order on Soren’s plea challenging his arrest, and requested interim bail in the matter. Earlier, Soren had requested an urgent hearing due to the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

In February, the High Court had reserved its decision on Soren’s plea challenging his arrest. Soren, through his advocate Pragya Baghel, has contended that his arrest was unwarranted and his remand in the matter was arbitrary and illegal. Soren has termed his arrest as illegal and malafide.

After much speculation and a dramatic sequence of events, Hemant Soren, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Chairperson, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a land scam case in January.