Sita Soren, JMM MLA suffered a jolt today when the Supreme Court overturned the 1998 PV Narasimha Rao judgment. 

In 1998, SC had held that members of parliament and legislative assemblies could claim immunity under Articles 105(2) and 194(2) of the Constitution for receiving a bribe in contemplation of a vote or speech in the legislature. 

The reference of the SC came much later in an appeal filed by JMM leader Sita Soren, who was accused of taking a bribe to vote for a particular candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections of 2012. 

Though she later denied culpability on the ground that she voted for the official nominee of her own party, the CBI had filed a chargesheet in the case. 

The Jharkhand High Court had refused to quash the chargesheet, following which she had moved the apex court. Sita Soren is the daughter-in-law of JMM chief and MP Shibu Soren, who was involved in the alleged JMM bribery case. 

 In 1993, four JMM MLAs and eight other MPs were allegedly bribed to ensure the survival of the then P.V. Narasimha Rao government during a no-confidence vote. 

They voted accordingly, and when the scandal broke, claimed immunity from criminal prosecution because their act of voting had happened inside Parliament. 

In a landmark decision on March 4, 2024, the Supreme Court overturned the 1998 PV Narasimha Rao judgment which held that members of parliament and legislative assemblies could claim immunity under Articles 105(2) and 194(2) of the Constitution for receiving a bribe in contemplation of a vote or speech in the legislature.  

The latest verdict, setting aside the earlier ruling, was handed out by a seven-judge bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, and Justices AS Bopanna, MM Sundresh, PS Narasimha, JB Pardiwala, Sanjay Kumar, and Manoj Misra. 

In the 1998 case, a five-judge bench held by a 3:2 majority that members of parliament and state legislatures were immune from prosecution in bribery cases related to their speech or vote in the house in the enjoyment of the parliamentary privileges conferred by Articles 105(2) and 194(2) of the Constitution, provided they upheld their end of the bargain for which they received a bribe. 

This verdict was doubted in an appeal by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Sita Soren who was accused of accepting a bribe for a 2012 Rajya Sabha vote. 

She claimed immunity under Article 194(2) of the Constitution, but the Jharkhand High Court dismissed her plea, leading to the challenge in the Supreme Court. After a two-day-long hearing, the seven-judge bench reserved its verdict in October last year. 

The SC judgement means that JMM MLA Sita Soren will face the charge sheet filed by the CBI against her on the charge that she had taken bribe to cast vote in RS polls.