Shibu Soren

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Shibu Soren (2006)

Shibu Soren ( Hindi शिबू सोरेन , born January 11, 1944 in the village of Nemra, then in the Hazaribagh District , Bihar Province, British India , now the Ramgarh District in Jharkhand , India) is an Indian politician. He was a longtime MP in the Lok Sabha, 2004-2006 Indian Minister for Coal and Steel and three times Chief Minister of the Indian state of Jharkhand . During his political career, Soren was involved in numerous court cases. Among other things, he was accused of bribery and he was accused in several murder trials. In this context he was also temporarily detained.

biography

Shibu Soren was born at the end of British colonial rule in a small village in what is now Jharkhand. His family belongs to the Santal ethnic group , who are counted among the "recognized tribal communities" ( Scheduled Tribes ) in today's India . He lost his father at an early age, who, according to his account, fell victim to a contract murder by moneylenders. His formal education was therefore limited to attending the local Gola High School in Hazaribagh.

At the age of 18 Shibu Soren became politically and socially active and founded the Santhal Navyuvak Sangh ("Association of Santal Youth") to agitate against the social exploitation and oppression of the tribal population. The main targets were extortionate moneylenders, mining industrialists (some of the largest mineral deposits in India are located in the Jharkhand area) and large landowners ( Zamindare ) who targeted tribal lands, as well as corrupt government employees who worked with the aforementioned groups of people.

In 1973, Soren and other activists founded the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM, "Jharkhand Liberation Front") party. The party initially had a pronounced Marxist class struggle program and wanted to defend the interests of the tribal population against the big landowners and capitalists. In addition, she campaigned for the establishment of a state of its own, which should include the areas with a majority tribal population in what was then Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal . JMM later transformed into a mainly regionalist and tribalist movement and the Marxists went their separate ways. From 1986 Soren was party president of the JMM.

Member of Parliament

Shibu Soren was a JMM candidate in the parliamentary elections in 1980 , 1989 , 1991 , 1996 , in a by-election in 2002 (after constituency MP Babulal Marandi had become Chief Minister), as well as in 2004 and 2009 in constituency 27-Dumka (initially Bihar, from 2000 Jharkhand) was elected to the Lok Sabha. In the 2019 parliamentary election , he lost his long-held parliamentary seat to competitor Sunil Soren from the BJP (not related to him). From July 8, 1998 to July 18, 2001 and from April 10, 2002 to June 2, 2002 he was a member of the Rajya Sabha for Bihar / Jharkhand.

Indian Union Minister and Chief Minister

Shibu Soren being sworn in as cabinet minister in New Delhi on January 29, 2006. In the foreground left: President APJ Abdul Kalam .

After the election victory of the United Progressive Alliance, led by the Congress Party, in the all-India parliamentary election in 2004 , Shibu Soren was Indian Union Minister for Coal and Steel in the Manmohan Singh I cabinet from May 2004 to July 24, 2004 . He resigned from the ministerial office after an arrest warrant on the Chirudih affair (see below) was issued against him. He was reinstated as Coal and Steel Minister on November 27, 2004 and served until May 2, 2005. He resigned as Minister after being appointed Chief Minister in Jharkhand.

From January 29, 2006 to November 28, 2006 Soren re-served as Union Minister for Coal and Steel. He resigned after his conviction in the murder trial of his former private secretary (see below).

Chief Minister of Jharkhand

Shibu Soren served as Chief Minister of Jharkhand three times, but only for a relatively short time. His first term of office lasted only 10 days from March 2nd to March 11th, 2005. He resigned after he could not win a vote of confidence in Jharkhand's parliament (the JMM alone had only 17 of 81 MPs after the 2005 election). In August 2008, the JMM parliamentary group withdrew the government of Chief Minister Madhu Koda (non-party) from parliamentary support, so that he had to resign. Subsequently, Soren served in his second term from August 27, 2008 to January 12, 2009 as Chief Minister in a coalition government made up of JMM, NCP and several independents. He resigned after losing a by-election. Soren's third term as Chief Minister lasted from December 30, 2009 to May 30, 2010. During this time, he ruled with a coalition government made up of JMM, BJP and AJSU Party . He resigned after the two coalition partners withdrew from the government.

Legal charges

Shibu Soren has been involved in numerous legal proceedings.

Chirudih massacre in Jharkhand in 1975

On January 23, 1975, the so-called Chirudih massacre occurred in what was then Dumlka District (later Jamtara District ), in which a mob of tribesmen murdered 10 people, including nine Muslims. One of the perpetrators testified that Shibu Soren had called for the Muslims to be killed because they "set fire to the houses of the tribal people." On December 26, 1979, charges were brought against 59 alleged perpetrators and instigators, including Shibu Soren. In a way that is not entirely untypical for the Indian judiciary, the whole process dragged on for decades because Soren avoided taking part in the process by failing to appear or because he enjoyed immunity as an elected member of parliament because procedural errors were committed against which the defendants' lawyers opposed and because the case files remained unprocessed for several years. In June 2004, the competent Jharkhand court declared Soren a legal refugee and ordered his arrest. This led to his resignation as Union Minister.

On March 6, 2008, a court in Jamtara district acquitted Soren and 13 co-defendants of the allegations in the Chirudih matter on the basis of insufficient evidence.

1993 bribery affair and murder of Soren's private secretary

On July 28, 1993, the Congress-led minority government under Prime Minister Narasimha Rao survived a vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha. Four JMM MPs, including Shibu Soren, had voted with the government. In 1996 it emerged that three days after the vote, a combined total of more than 1.6 crore rupees had been deposited into the accounts of the four MPs at the same bank in Delhi. On 5th / 6th In September 1996 the four accused JMM MPs, including Shibu Soren, were arrested on suspicion of corruption. They were released on bail on January 4, 1997. On April 17, 1998, the Indian Supreme Court ruled in a 3: 1 landmark judgment that MPs who accepted bribes would be protected from prosecution under Article 105 (2) of the Constitution . People who gave bribes, on the other hand, made themselves a criminal offense.

Soren and his co-defendants JMM party colleagues alleged that the money received was part of a party donation and presented receipts for it. In 2008, a new case for alleged forgery was started after it was found that the documents presented by the defendants were printed in 1995, while the money had already flowed into the accounts in 1993. On September 13, 2011, the four JMM politicians charged, including Shibhu Sorens, admitted that they had received funds from the Congress Party in 1993. However, these funds were not personal donations, but were used to finance JMM's parties. Transferring funds from a larger party (Congress) to a smaller party (JMM) is not illegal. In addition, this had no influence on the voting behavior of the MPs.

On May 22, 1994, Shashi Nath Jha, who worked as a secretary in the office of then MP Shibu Soren, left his Delhi office after work in the evening. However, he never got home. The investigation revealed that Jha had been kidnapped by four to five people, taken to Jharkhand and murdered there. On August 13, 1998, under the supervision of CBI officials, a presumed grave was opened and remains identified as those of Jha were found. On March 10, 1999, the CBI brought charges against Soren. The charge was that Jha, as Soren's secretary, knew about the bribery and blackmailed Soren. He was then eliminated as a confidante. On November 28, 2006, Soren was found guilty of complicity in murder by a Delhi court and as a result resigned from his ministerial office (see above). It was the first time in Indian history that an incumbent Union minister was convicted of murder. On December 5, 2006, the court sentenced him to life imprisonment. From November 28, 2006 to August 25, 2007, Shibu Soren was detained.

However, the verdict against Soren and his co-defendants was overturned by the Delhi High Court on August 22, 2007 . The reason given by the High Court was that the prosecutors' line of reasoning was "in no way convincing". The acquittal was upheld by the Supreme Court on April 26, 2018.

Other procedures

On April 15, 1974, a complaint was filed against Shibu Soren accusing him of leading a group of people who killed two people in Kudko village, Giridih district . The reason for the dispute was the slaughter of a goat. In 1978 the formal opening of the proceedings took place and after a very slow progress (eight co-defendants were acquitted in 1986) the proceedings were discontinued after 36 years due to a lack of evidence on June 15, 2010.

Private

With his wife Roopi Soren, whom he married on January 1, 1962, he had 3 sons and a daughter. His son Hemant Soren was Chief Minister of Jharkhand in 2013/2014 and has held this office again since December 29, 2019.

Web links

Commons : Shibu Soren  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Detailed Profile: Shri Shibu Soren. Biographical personal archive of Lok Sabha, accessed on December 25, 2019 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c d Shibu Soren sworn in as Jharkhand Chief Minister. Economic Times, December 30, 2009, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  3. ^ Tara Shankar Sahay: BJP searching for new Jharkhand chief minister. rediff.com, August 2, 2002, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  4. ^ Election Results - Full Statistical Reports. Indian Election Commission, accessed on December 25, 2019 (English, election results of all Indian elections to the Lok Sabha and the parliaments of the states since independence, the name is sometimes spelled differently in the documents for the elections - Siren, Sohan ).
  5. ↑ Alphabetical List Of Former Members Of Rajya Sabha Since 1952. Biographical personal archive of the Rajya Sabha, accessed on December 25, 2019 (English).
  6. ↑ Shibu Soren gets back coal ministry. November 27, 2004, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  7. ^ Soren resigns as Coal Minister. rediff.com, March 2, 2005, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Onkar Singh: Shibu Soren resigns on Center's bidding. March 11, 2005, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Shibu Soren sworn in as Jharkhand CM. redif.com, August 27, 2008, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Shibu Soren resigns, projects Champai as next CM: Jharkhand CM Shibu Soren projected a JMM MLA as his successor. Economic Times, January 12, 2009, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Shibu Soren resigns as Jharkhand chief minister. India Today, May 30, 2010, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  12. ^ Ajit Kumar Jha: 1975 Chirudih massacre: Past catches up with Shibu Soren, arrest warrant issued. India Today, August 2, 2004, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Soren acquitted in Chirudih massacre case. India Today, March 6, 2008, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  14. ^ NK Singh: Opposition parties accuse Narasimha Rao of bribing JMM MPs to vote in favor of govt. India Today, March 15, 1996, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  15. ^ Chronology of the JMM MPs' bribery case. redifff.com, September 29, 2000, accessed December 26, 2019 .
  16. ↑ JMM bribery case returns to haunt Shibu Soren. rediff.com, November 11, 2008, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Satya Prakash: JMM MPs admit receiving money to save Rao govt. Hindustan Times, September 13, 2011, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Shibu Soren vs Cbi on March 10, 1999. Delhi High Court , March 10, 1999, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Shibu Soren guilty in murder case, quits cabinet. rediff.com, November 28, 2006, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Shibu Soren gets life sentence. The Times of India, December 5, 2006, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  21. ↑ JMM chief Shibu Soren released from jail. The Times of India, August 25, 2007, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Shibu Soren, 4 others acquitted in murder case. The Hindu, September 29, 2016, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Supreme Court upholds Shibu Soren's acquittal in a 1994 murder case. The Hindu, April 26, 2018, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  24. ^ Soren acquitted in last of three cases of murder. India Today, June 15, 2010, accessed December 25, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Soren, Shibu
ALTERNATIVE NAMES शिबू सोरेन
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Village of Nemra in today 's Hazaribagh District , then Bihar Province, British India , now Jharkhand , India