Chandigarh: The last hope of Bibi Jagir Kaur came crashing down as the Supreme Court of India yesterday refused to put SAD (Badal) leader Bibi Jagir Kaur’s conviction on hold in a case related to her daughter’s murder, making the former Punjab minister ineligible to contest the February 4 assembly polls in the state.
Bibi Jagir Kaur
As reported by the media a bench comprising justices AK Goel and UU Lalit refused to entertain Jagir Kaur’s appeal against the Punjab and Haryana high court order denying her relief. Her counsel, senior advocate Shyam Divan, stated in her defence that the stay of his client’s conviction was necessary to enable her contest the elections. Divan argued she had been sentenced to five years by the trial court only on the charge of criminal conspiracy. She hasn’t been held guilty for the substantial offence of murder, he said.
It is said that law permits a convicted politician to fight elections if his or her conviction is put in abeyance, which is a rare phenomenon. As per an earlier SCI verdict, a lawmaker found guilty loses his or her membership immediately upon the conviction verdict is pronounced.
On January 15, the HC bench of justices AK Mittal and Ramendra Jain had declined to accept Kaur’s contention.