NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Tuesday quashed the Bihar legislative council‘s decision to expel RJD MLC Sunil Kumar Singh, calling the punishment “highly excessive” and “disproportionate.”
The expulsion came after Singh’s comments last year that were deemed offensive towards chief minister Nitish Kumar. The court’s ruling overturned the Election Commission’s notification for a bypoll to fill the seat held by Singh in the Bihar Legislative Council.
In February, during the Budget session, Singh’s conduct in the House was labelled as “abhorrent” and “unbecoming” by the Ethics Committee of the Bihar Legislative Council. Singh had used derogatory language towards Nitish Kumar, prompting a complaint from MLC Bhishma Sahni.
The committee’s report recommended his expulsion, saying that Singh, as the chief whip of the opposition, had failed to uphold the dignity of the council.
Singh was accused of mimicking chief minister Nitish Kumar during the budget session.
While the Ethics Committee’s recommendation was approved by the council, opposition leader Rabri Devi condemned the decision, calling it “dictatorial” and warning that it set a dangerous precedent. She accused the BJP-JDU alliance of trying to suppress dissent. RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav also criticised the expulsion, describing it as an act of dictatorship, and promised that the people would respond accordingly in the next elections.
At the last hearing, the apex court had noted that legislators have forgotten how to express dissent or criticise opponents respectfully. This remark came from a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N K Singh, as they heard Sunil Kumar’s petition challenging his expulsion from the Bihar Legislative Council for alleged misconduct.