Friday, 17 May, 2024
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court suspended the Jharkhand High Court's proceedings against Chief Minister Hemant Soren in two cases in which he was accused of money laundering, irregularities in mining licenses, and the use of shell firms.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court suspended the Jharkhand High Court's proceedings against Chief Minister Hemant Soren in two cases in which he was accused of money laundering, irregularities in mining licences, and the use of shell firms. A bench of Justices UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia reserved its order on a plea filed by Soren and the state government against the Jharkhand High Court, which had upheld the maintainability of the petitions filed by Right to Information (RTI) activist Shiv Kumar Sharma. Sharma has sought inquiries against Soren by the Central Bureau Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate. His first plea is related to a stone mining lease granted by Soren to himself in 2021. He surrendered the lease on February 4. The petitioner claims in the second argument that Soren and his family members have hidden unexplained funds in shell corporations. Additionally, Sharma has requested the authority to dismiss Soren, who oversees the mining department, from the state Assembly.
Raghubar Das, former chief minister of Jharkhand and national vice president of the BJP, stated in February of this year that Soren had abused his position by giving himself a mining lease, which involved both a conflict of interest and corruption. Additionally, he claimed that the some of the provisions of the Representation of People Act had been violated. The Election Commission of India (ECI), taking note of the situation, wrote Soren a notice in May asking for his accounts of the mining lease that was granted in his favour when he held the Mining and Environment portfolios. A probe of suspected irregularities in the granting of mining leases as well as the dealings of several shell firms purportedly connected to Soren's family and associates was requested in the High Court's petition.
Taking into consideration the alleged charges of corruption and irregularities in the mining lease, TEAM CVOTER- INDIA TRACKER conducted a survey in which people belonging to different gender, locations, social backgrounds and voting opinions were posed the question, ‘The Supreme Court has given relief to Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren in a corruption case. In your opinion, does Hemant Soren have a clean image?’ Different responses were recorded from people belonging to different backgrounds. The chart below shows the number of people in favour and against the question posed.
Source: Team Cvoter- India Tracker
It is understood from the chart that majority of the people are of the opinion that Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren does not have a clean image after facing allegations of irregularities in mining and charges of corruption. Only 47.5% responded with a ‘Yes’ while the remaining 52.5% were of the opinion that the Jharkhand CM doesn’t have a clean image.
Source- Team Cvoter- India Tracker
The Upper Caste Hindus recorded the sharpest reactions as 64.50% of them feel that Hemant Soren doesn’t have a clean image and it was exactly opposite in the case of Scheduled castes as 64.20% are of the opinion that the Jharkhand’s CM has a clean image in spite of facing several charges of corruption. There was no much difference between males and females as about 53% from both the categories feel that Hemant Soren doesn’t have a clean image. 56.50% NDA voters have opinion that he doesn’t have a clean image while only 49% of the opposition voters feel the same. Therefore, it can be understood from the result of the survey that majority of the people feel that Hemant Soren doesn’t have a clean image.
