• Defense advocate claims case is ‘political vendetta’
• Nagaland MP says he has ‘no political war with anyone’
• Assures he will come back to Nagaland state politics
Morung Express News
Dimapur | October 21
The Court hearing on the educational qualification row regarding Nagaland State MP to the Lok Sabha, Neiphiu Rio was held today at the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Kohima under Judge Tuccuno Vamuzo.
Former Chief Minister and current MP, Rio was present at the hearing along with supporters and family members. Hundreds of supporters lined up outside the court to show solidarity with the MP.
Senior Advocate for Rio, BK Mahajan today informed that the complainant had filed an application before the court seeking time since the transfer application was pending before the court. Mahajan further stated the defense has not submitted an objection on what has been made from the complainant’s side.
The next hearing has been fixed for November 11 for consideration of the charges against the accused.
A brief press conference with Rio and his lawyer was held outside the DC’s office. While briefing the media on the case, Mahajan stated: “We are all citizens of India having respect for the laws of the land, hence because the cases were fixed for consideration today, our client, ex-CM of Nagaland has appeared before the court being a law abiding citizen. But as students of law we are of the understanding that these cases are politically motivated and results of political vendetta.”
In his defense, Rio said the public knows that the college authority has already rectified the “error” in his educational certificate, and that a public apology was also extended. “So since I have been accused, as an accused person in this regard, I have come personally as summoned by the court to appear personally to show that I am innocent, I am not guilty,” Rio added.
On being questioned why he had not noticed the error in his certificate in the first place, the Nagaland MP replied: “I don’t want to go into detail and it is not proper. And I think if you go through the records … the letter of this controversial certificate was issued on the 12th December 2012 and when I went to general election in 2013, my affidavit was correct as BA and not as honors. And only this mistake occurred in the Parliament [elections] in 2014.”
This, he stated, was made by “people, who had the file,” and must have seen the paper and recorded as it was found. He asserted that his appearance today is to clear his name and to prove his innocence.
Replying to a query as to whether the case is part of a political war between him and the Nagaland Chief Minister, the MP stated: “I have no political war with anybody. If they have any, then I don’t know.”
During the gathering, the MP’s supporters urged Rio to come back to the state. To this, the MP said he will be coming back to State politics since he “is for the people and coming back to the wishes of the people.”
Transfer of case
It may be noted that the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Kohima, had passed an order on September 23, 2016, transferring the complaint case no 1/16 and GR 33/16 to the court of the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Kohima from the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Kohima.
The complainant, had subsequently, filed an appeal in the Kohima Bench of the Gauhati High Court against the order passed by the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Kohima. The Advocate for the complainant informed that the High Court had today impugned the September 23 order passed by the Session Court.
