It was very melodramatic twist between the Centre and the AAP government. Delhi’s Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar was arrested on Tuesday over his allegedly ‘fake’ law degree, whereas matter is subjudice in court and investigation is still going on. On the other hand, University has given a very positive reply to all RTI queries filed by various activists and his counterparts even though Tomar was arrested in connection with the ongoing row over the authenticity of his academic degree. Tomar had been booked under Sections pertaining to cheating and fraud after a university from Bhagalpur in Bihar submitted to a city court that he was not on its student rolls despite having a degree seemingly issued by it. The police claimed it had sought Tomar’s time and asked him to join investigation pertaining to the case on several occasions but the latter had not made him available. A senior police officer said permission from Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung was sought and given, prior to Tomar’s arrest as per protocol. It is an irony that, Tomar was arrested without any clue or hint but Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi had no information about the minister’s arrest. Initially, Bassi even refused to respond to queries on the arrest. However, later he told reporters that the action has been taken against the Law Minister as per the procedure.
People, either on social media or in media are demanding Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation on moral grounds. Delhi BJP asked Arvind Kejriwal to resign for not taking action against Tomar, whereas it might be minister’s ‘fake’ degree but AAP have no clue about it. More time should be given to Arvind Kejriwal to amend his roll. The faulty minister should be booked and served with whatever punishment he deserves by the Indian law. However, people should wait for the court’s verdict and judicial orders. Without waiting for court verdict, he has been accused of cheating, forgery, forgery with purpose of cheating and criminal conspiracy under various sections of IPC. Cops also slapped Tomar and were forced him to sign on some blank papers. Vested interests were ganging up against the AAP government because of its anti-corruption campaign but vowed that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won’t be cowed down. Tomar was treated like mafia, with 30-40 policemen swooping down at his constituency office in the morning. The policemen told Tomar that they are taking him to his home to check his papers. In the midway, they asked his driver to get down and drove him to the police station. The issue is in the court whereas his University has submitted an affidavit to say that Tomar has a law degree from there.
Tilak Manjhi Bhagalpur University filed an affidavit stating AAP’s Delhi Law Minister’s provisional certificate is “fabricated and doesn’t exist in their record.” The university said the roll number cited by Tomar is also incorrect. As per records, the provisional certificate with serial number 3687 was issued on July 29, 1999 to Sanjay Kumar Chaudhary for BA (honours) in political science. The certificate in Jitender Tomar’s name is a fabricated document and does not exist in the university’s records.
Meanwhile, Kiran Bedi came out in support of Delhi Police saying “Police must have conducted long investigation to collect evidences and there must be very solid evidence to confront him, otherwise they would have done this with the Law Minister. Political attack between AAP and BJP is ongoing frequently; however, Congress is also not leaving any stone unturned in humiliating AAP leaders especially Arvind Kejriwal.
Now, AAP supporters are demanding Smriti Irani’s arrest by daring Delhi Police. Though, there is vast difference between Tomar and Irani’s case. Irani just lied about her qualifications whereas Tomar is accused for ‘forged and fabricated’ certificates. He also became member of bar council, entered into politics and became a law minister with that fabricated Degree. Later on, in the University affidavit, it is clearly written that Tomar was a student of that University and he passed out from here. Let’s see, how he comes clean or remains in jail leaving all sorts of challenges for Aam Aadmi Party.
At the age of 48, Tomar was sworn in as a Law Minister in AAP government in February 2015. He is enrolled with Bar Council of Delhi and is a self-employed lawyer. As per his election affidavit, in 1999 he obtained LL.B. degree from the Tilak Manjhi Bhagalpur University, Bihar. However, his university degrees became a subject of controversy when the Delhi High Court issued him a notice a day before he was sworn in as a minister, regarding allegations of it being “false and bogus”. The petitioner has alleged that Tomar’s Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree from Avadh University was also fake. Also, Tomar’s law college Bishwanath Singh Institute of Legal Study College, Munger, Bihar “does not meet the standards prescribed by Bar Council of India”. On 27th May 2015, Institute of Legal Studies, Munger where the Tomar claimed to have studied LLB – filed an affidavit before the Delhi High Court claiming that he was a “bonafide student”. Amongst the documents submitted by the institute include attested copies admission register (for session 1994-95, 1995-96 and 1997-98) and marksheets containing Tomar’s name with the affidavit were also submitted. The High Court then directed Bar Council of India to supply copies of all documents available with them to Tomar. The High Court was yet to deliver its verdict on this matter and Tomar was not acquitted of the charges, but got arrested.
