Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Jharkhand government in the case related to BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey and Manoj Tiwari. The court asked why the CID was investigating cases of violation of aviation rules by Nishikant Dubey and Manoj Tiwari. The responsibility for investigating these allegations rests with the DGCA. The two MPs were accused of pressuring the ATC (Air Traffic Control) to allow their chartered flight to take off from Deoghar Airport. The court reserved its verdict on the government’s appeal against the Jharkhand High Court ruling.
The Supreme Court told state government lawyer Jayant Mohan that the matter would be considered under the Aircraft Act. In this regard, the General Administration of Civil Aviation has been given the responsibility to investigate aviation crime cases. Justices Oka and Manmohan asked how the Jharkhand Criminal Investigation Department (CID) would conduct investigation in such a situation.
Supreme Court heard arguments
The bench also reserved its ruling on the government’s appeal against the Jharkhand High Court ruling. With this, the FIR against the BJP MP and others was cancelled. The high court quashed the FIR saying no prior approval was obtained from the Lok Sabha secretariat under the Aircraft (Amendment) Act, 2020.
As per the rules, any FIR against a parliamentarian must be approved by the secretariat. Before reserving its decision, the Supreme Court heard arguments from state government lawyer Manid Singh and BJP leaders.
What does Nishikant Dubey’s lawyer say?
Nishikant Dubey’s lawyer told the court that the flight from Deoghar to Delhi was delayed on August 31. However, according to regulations, planes can take off even half an hour after sunset. Sunset that day occurred at around 6.03 pm. The plane took off at 6:17 p.m. Members of Congress were targeted for political reasons and implicated in false cases.
Let us tell you that in August 2023, an FIR was registered against nine people, including two councilors, at the Deogarkunda police station. They are accused of forcing air traffic controllers to approve charter flights to take off from the Deoghar airport outside the scheduled time.
