Tainted leaders of Jharkhand: Criminal cases pending against MPs and MLAs

More than half of the MLAs in Jharkhand are tainted, having at least one or more criminal case pending against them in different courts of the State. An affidavit stated that out of a total of 62 MLAs having criminal cases against them, some have been acquitted, while 44 MLAs still have cases pending against them.

Ranchi: At least 142 cases are pending against current and former MPs and MLAs in several courts of Jharkhand. Out of these, the present MPs and MLAs are accused in 86 cases.

According to reports, criminal cases are registered against a total of 5 MPs, and 44 MLAs of Jharkhand. These public representatives face serious charges like rape, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, extortion and causing damage to government property.

According to the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission, there are 4 criminal cases against BJP MP from Godda, Nishikant Dubey. At the same time, 3 criminal cases are registered against BJP MP from Jamshedpur, Vidyutvaran Mahato.

There is one criminal case against Congress MP, Geeta Koda from Singhbhum Lok Sabha seat and there are 2 cases against AJSU Party MP, Chandraprakash Chaudhary from Giridih. One criminal case is also registered against one Rajya Sabha member of BJP, Deepak Prakash, along with 4 MPs of Lok Sabha.

Tainted MLAs in present assembly

Out of the 81 MLAs elected for the Jharkhand Assembly in 2019, 44 have criminal cases registered against them. Of these, 34 MLAs have been booked for serious charges while 10 MLAs have been booked for other criminal cases.

However, compared to the number of tainted MLAs in the 2014 assembly, there has been a decrease in the number of tainted MLAs elected in 2019. In the year 2014, out of 81 MLAs elected to the Jharkhand Assembly, 55 MLAs had criminal cases filed against them.

Number of tainted MLAs party wise

17 out of 30 MLAs in Jharkhand Mukti Morcha are tainted. There are criminal cases against 8 out of 15 Congress MLAs. All three MLAs who won the election on the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha ticket are tainted.

At present, one MLA of JVM has gone to BJP and two MLAs have gone to Congress. 12 out of the 25 Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs are tainted. One out of the 2 AJSU MLAs is tainted.

While CPI-ML and Rashtriya Janata Dal have one MLA each and they are also tainted. Similarly, the one and only MLA of National Congress Party i.e. NCP is also tainted. Apart from these, a criminal case is also registered against an independent MLA.

According to these figures, 57% of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLAs are tainted. 50% of Congress MLAs are tainted. 48% of Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs are tainted. 50% of AJSU MLAs are tainted. 100% MLAs of JVM, which does not currently exist, are tainted. Apart from this, 100% MLAs of National Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and CPI-ML are tainted.

Favour towards tainted MLAs

Some of the MLAs included in the list of tainted public representatives are considered extremely strong leaders. They have even been bestowed with the rank of minister in the government. According to the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission by the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Hemant Soren, 2 criminal cases have been registered against him. Health Minister Banna Gupta won the election from Jamshedpur West seat on a Congress ticket. There are 4 cases against him for assault and disrupting harmony.

Mithilesh Kumar Thakur, Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation Department, is a JMM MLA from Garhwa. Two cases have been registered against Mithilesh Kumar Thakur for murder, assault and influencing the election. JMM MLA from Dumri seat of Giridih, Jagarnath Mahato, also has 3 cases registered against him and he is the state education minister. Along with this, Satyanand Bhokta, the only RJD MLA from Chatra, is the Labor Minister and a case is registered against him. Leader of BJP in the Assembly, MLA Babulal Marandi has a total of 9 cases registered against him. He is accused of cheating, producing fake documents, conspiring and damaging government property.

Politics of Bullying

MLA Pradeep Yadav, who joined Congress from JVM, has the highest number of 14 cases registered against him and these include serious charges like cheating, rape and molestation.

After this, BJP MLA Kushwaha Shashi Bhushan Mehta from Panki assembly seat of Palamu has 11 cases of murder, attempt to murder and assault filed against him. The name Bandhu Tirkey is on number three.

Former sports minister, Bandhu Tirkey was a JVM member and won the election from Mandar and then joined Congress. A total of 10 cases are registered against him.

Among the heavyweight MLAs, there are names of women MLAs as well. They have been accused of serious charges like attempt to murder, kidnapping, assault, inciting a riot and cheating. There are 4 criminal cases registered against Congress MLA, Mamta Devi from Hazaribagh. JMM MLA, Sita Murmu from Jamtara's Naala has 3 cases against her.

There are 2 cases against Congress MLA Deepika Pandey Singh from Mahgama seat in Godda district. Similarly, one case each is registered against Congress MLA Amba Prasad from Mandu in Hazaribagh district and BJP MLA Aparna Sen Gupta from Nirsa seat of Dhanbad.

The cases of many public representatives of Jharkhand have made headlines across the country. The first name in this list is of the former Bihar Chief Minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav. Convicted in the fodder scam, Lalu Yadav, has been in jail since 23rd December 2017 and undergoing treatment in RIMS. Hearing is presently going on in the CBI court pertaining to the illegal withdrawal case from Doranda treasury.

Troubles of Madhu Koda, who was the Independent Chief Minister of Jharkhand, have also not reduced. In 2017, the trial court had convicted him of corruption and conspiracy in the allocation of Rajhara North coal block. There is also a charge of money laundering against Madhu, for which the hearing is going on in a special CBI court.

Initiative for speedy hearing

In the light of the order of the Supreme Court, two fast track courts have been set up by the state government on the instructions of the Jharkhand High Court for speedy execution of criminal cases registered against the Honorable.

There is one court in Ranchi district, where the cases of MLAs of 13 districts are being heard. The second fast track court has been set up in Dhanbad, where the cases of MLAs belonging to 11 districts are being heard.

A total of 14 cases have been executed in both the courts formed in 2018. In these, MLAs have been acquitted in ten cases while in four cases the court is yet to pronounce the verdict.