CBI to challenge Meghalaya minister’s acquittal in SC

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has decided to file a special leave petition in the Supreme Court against the judgment of the High Court of Meghalaya, acquitting former education minister and current law minister Dr. Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh and two other officers, in the ‘education scam’ of 2008.
The others accused were J.D. Sangma, the then Director, Directorate of Elementary and Mass Education and Ameka I. Lyngdoh, the then Deputy Director, Directorate of Elementary and Mass Education.
“We are shocked about the verdict; we will be challenging the order in the Supreme Court. The chargesheet has been filed against the three accused based on concrete evidence. If there was no evidence, then charges could not be framed. There was concrete evidence against the trio; hence, they were charge sheeted and the trial has been going on,” a CBI official said on condition of anonymity. The official said a special leave petition to be filed by the CBI will focus on why the court didn’t even call for records from the trial court to peruse. On Thursday, the single bench of Chief Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji, while adjudicating the case, said, “In this case, the prosecution has failed to establish even a prima facie case from where a reasonable suspicion may arise in the prosecutor or the court of interpolation of the score sheets by the accused or any of them. The case or charges against each of them falls to the ground”. The High Court also said that the CBI did not submit any document regarding erasing of marks of the assistant teachers by Ampareen Lyngdoh.
“No documents showing interpolation or any application of white ink for erasing the marks are on records,” the HC had said.
Pointing out that the first FIR was lodged on July 18, 2011, the court said nothing had moved significantly in prosecuting the accused as only 28 out of 181 witnesses had been examined. Chief Justice Mukherji had pointed out that the selection process was of 2008 and that about 17 years had since rolled by.
“Such enormous delay in prosecuting a criminal case is also against the fundamental rights of the accused under Articles 21, 19 and 14 to lead a peaceful life free of mental anxiety caused by pendency of a criminal proceeding,” the Chief Justice underscored.
“Therefore, exercising power under Section 227 of the Code read with Section 482, especially the part which deals with the power of the court to prevent abuse of the process of any court or to secure the ends of justice, I set aside the impugned order dated 23rd August, 2022 passed in Special (CBI) Case No. 2 of 2020 by the learned Special Judge (CBI), East Khasi Hills district, Shillong. The charges against the accused A1, A2 and A3 are quashed. The entire criminal proceedings are hereby quashed. Each of the accused 1, 2 and 3 are hereby discharged,” Chief Justice Mukherji had pronounced.