Upper House turns into Court Justice Sen impeached

The Rajya Sabha has today passed a motion to impeach Calcutta High Court Judge, Justice Soumitra Sen. He has been found guilty of misappropriation of funds. In the first ever live impeachment proceedings, as many as 189 members voted in favour of the motion to impeach Justice Sen and 17 voted against..The Rajya Sabha has today passed a motion to impeach Calcutta High Court Judge, Justice Soumitra Sen. He has been found guilty of misappropriation of funds. In the first ever live impeachment proceedings, as many as 189 members voted in favour of the motion to impeach Justice Sen and 17 voted against..With Rajya Sabha giving the approval of impeachment of Justice Sen, it will now go to the Lok Sabha within a week. If it is approved by both the Houses of Parliament in the same session, the motion would go to the President, who can order the removal of the judge from office..The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday began the first ever impeachment proceedings against Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court. Justice Sen, who presented his case personally, is facing impeachment on two grounds of misconduct. The two charges against him are misappropriation of large sums of money, which he allegedly received in his capacity as receiver, appointed by the high court and second, making false statements and misrepresenting facts with regard to the misappropriation..The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury moved the motion against him specifying why the Rajya Sabha has decided to impeach Justice Sen. Justice Sen was given 90 minutes to defend his case for the last time..The Upper House was converted into a court room with Justice Sen arguing from a bar put up at the gate of the central aisle of the Rajya Sabha..Justice Sen while defending himself said he was being victimised and charges of misconduct and misappropriation of funds were a ‘pre-determined’ move against him. He contended that the case against him was based on former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice K.G. Balakrishanan’s letter to the Prime Minister in this regard..Sen said his conduct as a judge was never under examination. The allegations of misappropriation against him were in his capacity as a receiver of the High Court in Calcutta and not as a Judge. There seems to have been “abuse of power” by high office. “They are too anxious to hold me guilty”, he added..Justice Sen said “I have exhausted my remedies in accordance with law. I have come here to seek justice. If you impeach me, it will be the gravest of injustice done ever. Kindly apply your mind before deciding on the judgement, as it is a question of my life.”.He said, even if he was impeached, he would “scream from the rooftop that I have not misappropriated…I am being made a sacrificial lamb to cleanse the judiciary”..Supporting the motion, leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley said “A judge has to lead by example and a judge cannot rely on technicalities and try to escape the rigours of law”, reports Deccan Chronicle. He also said that litigants cannot be judged by a judge, who himself is “stigmatised”..The debate today was resumed by Arun Jaitley, who affirmed his support for removing the tainted judge, calling it a case of “proven misconduct”, reports HT..Arun Jaitley today while expressing concern over questions being raised on conduct of some judges, has suggested revisiting the process of the appointment of judges and favoured a National Judicial Commission to ensure selection of those with strong integrity..58 members had moved a motion to impeach the judge on the basis of a recommendation by the former Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnanan. The Council of States had convened an inquiry panel comprising Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, Mukul Mudgal and Senior Counsel Fali Nariman..Justice Sen had been found guilty by the Parliament Committee and thereafter, the impeachment proceedings were initiated..Justice Sen is the second judge against whom impeachment proceedings has been initiated. The first such case involved the impeachment motion in Lok Sabha of Justice V. Ramaswami of the Supreme Court in May 1993 which fell due to lack of numbers after Congress members abstained.