Jharkhand High Court Slaps ₹8,000 Fine on State Over Delayed Reply
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In a stern procedural rebuke against government lethargy, the Jharkhand High Court on Monday imposed a cost of ₹8,000 on the state government after it failed to submit its formal counter-affidavit in an ongoing petition seeking to quash an FIR registered against senior Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Presiding over the bench, Justice A.K. Chaudhary expressed dissatisfaction with the state’s delay and directed that the penalty amount be deposited directly with the Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority (JHALSA) before the next scheduled court date. Notably, during an earlier proceeding in the same matter, the High Court had also slapped a symbolic ₹10 fine on respondent Hemant Soren, establishing a firm judicial posture against unwarranted litigation delays as the court scheduled the next substantive hearing for December 9, with Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju and senior advocates A.K. Das and Saurav Kumar representing the federal investigative agency.
The Quashing Plea: ED Officials Move Court Calling Soren's Atrocities Complaint Baseless
The legal proceedings stem from a formal quashing petition filed by then-ED officials Kapil Raj, Devvrat Jha, and fellow team members seeking the outright nullification of the criminal complaint lodged against them at the SC/ST Police Station in Ranchi. The impugned FIR had been registered on January 31, 2024, by Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, naming ED officers Kapil Raj, Devvrat Jha, Anupam Kumar, Aman Patel, and several unidentified agency operatives under special penal sections. In their petition before the High Court, the central investigators argued that the criminal complaint was a retaliatory, baseless misuse of statutory machinery intended to impede lawful anti-money laundering inquiries, reiterating that the agency’s search actions complied strictly with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) provisions and lacked any criminal or discriminatory animus.
The January 2024 Standoff: Allegations of Unannounced Raids, Media Leaks, and Character Defamation
The genesis of the high-profile conflict traces back to late January 2024, when central agency sleuths conducted an enforcement search at Soren’s official residence in Shanti Niketan, New Delhi. In his police complaint, Soren alleged that federal sleuths had instructed him to remain accessible in Ranchi between January 29 and January 31, 2024, yet deliberately executed an unannounced search at his Delhi property during his physical absence without serving prior administrative notice. The complaint alleged that the agency's operational conduct subjected him to severe mental and social harassment while systematically leaking unverified speculative details to mainstream news organizations to orchestrate a public trial, defame his tribal identity, and tarnish his social standing—contentions that now stand subject to intense judicial evaluation as the state seeks more time to articulate its stance on December 9.
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