Jayalalithaa's fingerprints won't be shared: SC sets aside Madras High Court order over a bypoll petition

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday quashed the Madras High Court order which asked Karnataka prison authorities to submit former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa's fingerprints. The high court had sought fingerprints over an election petition filed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader P Saravanan. The apex court asked the HC to proceed without the fingerprints. 

The Madras High Court had in November 2017 decided to compare Jayalalithaa's thumb impression on documents relating to a 2016 bypoll, with the late leader’s fingerprints available with the Parappana Agrahara jail at Bengaluru. Justice P Velmurugan had also asked the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to furnish Jayalalithaa’s thumb impression details to the court.

The petition was filed by Saravanan for the November 2016 Thirupparankundram Assembly bypoll challenging the election of AIADMK's AK Bose. During the pendency of the case, Saravanan had contended that the thumb impression of Jayalalithaa was obtained without her consent and knowledge while she was unconscious, with the “connivance” of the doctors who attended to the former chief minister and others.

In his petition, Saravanan had also questioned the EC’s decision to accept the left-thumb impression of Jayalalithaa affixed on the documents filed in support of Bose’s nomination papers. He further submitted that following the attestation, the AIADMK candidate (Bose) was allowed to contest on the ‘two leaves’ symbol under the “defective form A and form B” of the documents, which had materially “affected the outcome of the election”.

The letter stated that Jayalalithaa was not in a position to sign as she was unwell and hence, her left-thumb impression attested by the doctor could be taken on file.

(With PTI inputs)