India's upper house of parliament voted to impeach a High Court justice on corruption charges on Thursday against a backdrop of mass anti-graft protests across the country.
For the first time ever, a sitting judge, Soumitra Sen, 53, was found guilty by parliament's upper house of 'misappropriating' large sums of public funds in an abuse of his position as a justice of the Kolkata High Court.
A total of 189 members of the Rajya Sabha voted in favour of the impeachment while only 17 voted against a motion that holds Sen guilty on three counts.
'In the discussions we have had in the past two days the misbehaviour of Mr Sen has been proved,' Communist Party of India MP Sitaram Yechury, who moved the impeachment motion on Wednesday, said before the vote.
Sen would be India's first sitting high court judge to be removed if, as expected, two-thirds of the members of parliament's elected lower house also vote in favour of the impeachment motion.
Members of the ruling Congress party voted alongside lawmakers belonging to the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which has launched a major attack on the government over a series of recent scandals.
The Indian vice president, Hamid Ansari, who is also chairman of the upper house, said the motion held Sen guilty for 'misappropriation of large sums of money, misrepresenting facts in regards to the misappropriation of money and misbehaviour'.
The only precedent for such action was the attempted impeachment in 1993 of a Supreme Court justice, V Ramaswami, which fell through after failing to garner the support of enough lawmakers. Ramaswami later resigned.
On Wednesday Sen, who was given an opportunity to defend himself in the upper house, told MPs he had been the victim of what he called 'a mockery of justice' and denied the charges levelled against him.
The impeachment process coincided with mass protests across India in support of activist Anna Hazare, who has vowed to fast until death in protest at what he sees as a watered-down, anti-corruption law being considered by parliament.
The bill would create a new ombudsman tasked with investigating and prosecuting senior politicians and bureaucrats.
BJP parliamentarian and prominent lawyer Ram Jethmalani insisted during the debate that MPs should punish Sen to cleanse the judiciary.
'This is a matter the house cannot take a lenient view (over),' he said, adding that Sen should be shown 'no mercy.'
During discussions, several MPs also called for the setting up of a National Judicial Commission to recruit judges of 'impeccable reputation and character.'
'Today, the criteria for the appointment of judges does not exist,' BJP leader Arun Jaitley said during the debate.
Source : Nge Age
