Rao Shiv Bahadur Singh

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Rao Shiv Bahadur Singh (1894-1955) was an Indian politician with the Indian National Congress party, who was convicted in 1950 of taking bribes to issue a forged document for a diamond mining firm. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment and expelled from the Congress Party.

He is the father of Arjun Singh, the present Human Resource Development Minister in the Manmohan Singh government.

[edit] Life

A jagirdaar or landlord from Churhat, Madhya Pradesh, Shiv Bahadur Singh was the 26th "Rao" of Churhat, a branch of the Rewa royal line[1]. Around the time of independence, he joined the Congress Party and was one of the leaders of the party in Madhya Pradesh. He also served as minister in the Central cabinet under Jawaharlal Nehru.

In 1950, Shiv Bahadur Singh was convicted for forging official documents that permitted the closed Panna Diamond Mining syndicate to resume operations, in return for which he was paid a bribe of Rs. 25,000 by Nagindas Mehta of the firm, on 1949-04-11 at the Constitution House New Delhi[2]. The forgeries were backdated to the period when he had been minister in the then state of Vindhya Pradesh (before it was merged with Madhya Pradesh in 1956). Neither the fact of the bribe nor the forgery were contested in several subsequent appeals.

In the legal trial, he was initially acquitted by a Special court, but the state appealed to the Judicial Commissioner (predecessor to the present High court system) where he was found guilty under articles relating to forgery, criminal conspiracy, and "illegal gratification by a public servant". He was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for three years, while a bureaucrat who connived in the operation was sentenced for one year.

In the ensuing scandal, Shiv Bahadur Singh was expelled from the Congress party.

[edit] Supreme Court Appeal

In 1953, Shiv Bahadur Singh appealed this judgment to the Supreme Court, but the argument never made the case that he was innocent of the charges. The judgment in the case, which argued a number of points relating to legal minutiae, remains an oft-cited legal landmark for these technical questions. The lawyers for Singh, headed by Rajinder Narain, argued that

  • there was no specific provision that the State could appeal the decision of the lower court. While this may be a lacuna in the law, it should be respected. This contention was overruled, looking at the spirit of the text pertaining to appeals.
  • the criminal laws under which they were convicted were legislated in September 1949, whereas the crime occurred in March, thus the law was not "in force at the time of the commission of the act" (Article 20 of the constitution). However, this was overruled since the " criminal law relating to the offences charged against the appellants at the time of their commission was substantially the same as that which obtained at the time of the convictions".
  • that the bribe was taken in Delhi, which is outside the jurisdiction of the Vindhya Pradesh court that tried him (this was also overruled).

Thus the appeal was reversed on all counts, and the case was referred to be heard on the "merits". Since the merits were not contested, Shiv Bahadur Singh remained imprisoned and died while in prison.

He is the father of present Congress party stalwart Arjun Singh, who has served as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and is currently a Minister in the central cabinet. Interestingly, Arjun Singh was also involved in allegations of fraud involving the Churhat lottery, but beyond claims of disproportionate expenses[3], nothing has been proved.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Churhat (Thikana) : Princely states genealogy.
  2. ^ Justice B. Jagannadhadas (1953-05-22). Rao Shiv Bahadur Singh and Another v. State Of Vindhya Pradesh [1953 INSC 53; (1953) SCR 1188; AIR 1953 SC 394]. Supreme Court of India. Retrieved on 2007-10-02. Quote: It appears that on or about the 31st October, 1947, the Panna Durbar directed the stoppage of the mining work [by the Panna Diamond Mining Syndicate] on the ground that the Syndicate was not carrying on the operations properly. Since then the Syndicate was making strenuous efforts to obtain cancellation of the said order. It is alleged that the two appellants... in their official capacity, entered into a conspiracy about the beginning of February 1949 at Rewa (within the United State of Vindhya Pradesh), to obtain illegal gratification for the purpose of revoking the previous order of stoppage of mining work. In pursuance of the said conspiracy it is alleged that the second appellant demanded on 8th March, 1949, at Rewa illegal gratification from one Nagindas Mehta, a representative of the Panna Diamond Mining Syndicate, and that later on 11th April, 1949, the first appellant, in fact, received a sum of Rs. 25,000 towards it at the Constitution House in New Delhi and forged certain documents purporting to be orders passed in official capacity and intended to confer some advantages or benefits on the Panna Diamond Mining Syndicate.
  3. ^ Blunting the tools of vendetta