Shibu Soren (born 11 January 1944; ) is an Indian politician who is currently a member of the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

, representing

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

, and the leader of the

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (; ) is a political party in the Indian state of Jharkhand, founded by Binod Bihari Mahato, Shibu Soren, and A. K. Roy. Hemant Soren is the president of the JMM. JMM is also an influential political party in the state ...

(JMM). He previously served as the 3rd Chief Minister of Jharkhand, first for 10 days in 2005 (from 2 March to 12 March), then from 2008 to 2009, and again from 2009 to 2010. He is also the President of the JMM, a constituent of the INDIA Alliance. Soren was a

Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha A Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha ( abbreviated: MP) is the representative of a legislative constituency in the Lok Sabha; the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of parliament of Lok Sabha are chosen by direct elections ...

from Dumka from 1980 to 1984, 1989 to 1998, and 2002 to 2019. He also served as the Minister for Coal in the

Union Cabinet The Union Council of Ministers is the Cabinet (government), principal executive organ of the Government of India, which serves to aid and advise the President of India in execution of their functions.Article 74 of the ''Constitution of India' ...

three times: in 2004, from 2004 to 2005, and in 2006. However, he was convicted by a Delhi district court for his involvement in the 1994 murder of his private secretary, Shashi Nath Jha. He has also been indicted in the past on other criminal charges.

Life

Soren was born in Nemra village of

Ramgarh district Ramgarh district is one of the 24 districts in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It was also a military district during the British Regime, referred to then as Ramgarh district. It is the part of State Capital Region (SCR). Ramgarh was made a di ...

, in what was, at the time,

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

, India. He belongs to

Santal The Santal (or Santhal) are an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic-speaking Munda peoples, Munda ethnic group of the Indian subcontinent. Santals are the largest tribe in the Jharkhand and West Bengal in terms of population and are also found ...

tribe. He completed his schooling in the same district. During his schooling his father was murdered by thugs employed by money lenders. At the age of 18, he formed the Santhal Navyuvak Sangh. In 1972, Bengali Maxist trade union leader A. K. Roy, Kurmi-Mahato leader

Binod Bihari Mahato Binod Bihari Mahato (23 September 1923 – 18 December 1991) was an advocate and politician. He founded Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in 1972 and was a leader of the movement for the establishment of the separate state of Jharkhand. He was a member of ...

and Santal leader Shibu Soren formed

. Soren became the general secretary of JMM. JMM organised agitations to reclaim the tribal lands which were alienated. They started forcibly harvesting in the lands. Shibu Soren was known for delivering summary justice against landlords and money lenders, sometimes by holding own courts. On 23 January 1975, he allegedly incited a campaign to drive away "outsiders", or the 'non-tribal' people. At least eleven people were killed. Soren and numerous others were charged with various crimes related to this incident. After extended legal proceedings, Soren was acquitted on 6 March 2008. However, possibly related incitement charges—dating from two earlier deaths in 1974—remain pending. He lost his first

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

election in 1977. He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980 from Dumka. An arrest warrant was issued against him. He was subsequently elected to the Lok Sabha in 1989, 1991 and 1996 as well. In 2002, he was elected to the

. He won the Dumka Lok Sabha seat in a by-election the same year and resigned his Rajya Sabha seat. He was re-elected in 2004. He became the Union Coal Minister in the

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (26 September 1932 – 26 December 2024) was an Indian economist, bureaucrat, academician, and statesman, who served as the prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He was the fourth longest-serving prime minister after Jaw ...

government, but was asked to resign following an arrest warrant in his name in the thirty-year-old Chirudih case. He was one of the main accused amongst 69, with allegations to kill 10 people (including 9 Muslims) on 23 January 1975, in a clash between tribals and Muslims. After the warrant was issued, he initially went underground. He resigned on 24 July 2004. He was able to secure bail after spending over a month in judicial custody; released on bail on 8 September, he was re-inducted into the Union Cabinet and given back the coal ministry on 27 November 2004, as part of a deal for a Congress-JMM alliance before assembly elections in

in February/March 2005. On 2 March 2005, after much political bargaining and quid pro quo he was invited to form the government in

by the Governor of Jharkhand. He resigned as Chief Minister nine days later, on 11 March, following his failure to obtain a

vote of confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fit ...

in the assembly. In 2019 Lok Sabha Elections he lost to Sunil Soren of BJP from Dumka constituency.

Life imprisonment and acquittal

On 28 November 2006, Soren was found guilty in a twelve-year-old case involving the kidnapping and murder of his former personal secretary Shashinath Jha. It was claimed that Jha was abducted from the

Dhaula Kuan Dhaula Kuan () is a major intersection of roads in Delhi, India. The name also now refers to the neighbourhood surrounding the intersection. Intersection Five major thoroughfares in Delhi meet at Dhaula Kuan. Passing through the intersect ...

area in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

on 22 May 1994 and taken to Piska Nagari near

Ranchi Ranchi (; ) is the capital city and also the largest district by population of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern ...

where he was killed. The CBI chargesheet stated that Jha's knowledge of the reported deal between the Congress and the JMM to save the Narasimha Rao government during the July 1993

no-confidence motion A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fit ...

and an act of sodomy was the motive behind the murder. The charge-sheet asserted that: "Jha was aware of the illegal transactions and also expected and demanded a substantial share out of this amount from Soren." Soren resigned from his post of

Union Minister The Union Council of Ministers is the Cabinet (government), principal executive organ of the Government of India, which serves to aid and advise the President of India in execution of their functions.Article 74 of the ''Constitution of India' ...

for Coal after

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

demanded that he should do so in the wake of the verdict. This is the first case of a Union Minister of the Government of India being found guilty of involvement in a murder. On 5 December 2006, Shibu Soren was sentenced to life imprisonment. A Delhi court rejected his bail plea, stating: 'We cannot overlook the fact that the appellant (Soren) has been convicted after a detailed and elaborate trial only in November 2006 and sentenced in December 2006. The bench also noted that he was also being tried in a number of other cases, including the case of mass murder in Jharkhand. On 25 June 2007, Shibu Soren was being escorted to his jail in Dumka,

when his convoy was attacked by bombs, but no one was hurt. The

Delhi High Court The High Court of Delhi ( Hindustani: दिल्ली उच्च न्यायालय; ''dillī uchcha nyāyālaya'') is the high court in Delhi, India. It was established on 31 October 1966, through the ''Delhi High Court Act, 1966. ...

on 23 August 2007 overruled the District Court and acquitted Soren, stating that "The trial court's analysis is far from convincing and not sustainable." The five men convicted by the Tis Hazari court were held guilty of criminal conspiracy, abduction and murder primarily on the basis of

forensic evidence Forensic identification is the application of forensic science, or "forensics", and technology to identify specific objects from the trace evidence they leave, often at a crime scene or the scene of an accident. Forensic means "for the courts". Hu ...

provided by a post-mortem report of a body discovered in Jharkhand, namely a skull superimposition test and skull injury report. This was in addition to eyewitness accounts and some circumstantial evidence.Shibu Soren’s on expected lines
''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

''. 23 August 2007.

Personal life

He is married to Roopi Kisku. He has three sons Durga Soren,

Hemant Soren Hemant Soren (born 10 August 1975) is an Indian politician who is serving as the current Chief Minister of Jharkhand since 4 July 2024. He previously held the office from 2019 to 2024 and from 2013 to 2014. He is also the president of the Jhark ...

, and

Basant Soren Basant Soren is an Indian Politician and a member of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha political party. He is the current cabinet minister for ministry of roads & buildings and construction & water resources in Government of Jharkhand and a member of J ...

and a daughter, Anjali Soren. His son,

as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand He is currently CM previously from July 2013 to December 2014. His elder son Durga Soren was MLA from

Jama ''JAMA'' (''The Journal of the American Medical Association'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of b ...

from 1995 to 2005. Durga's wife Sita Soren is former MLA from

, now in BJP. Basant Soren is president of the Jharkhand Yuva Morcha, a youth wing of

and current MLA from Dumka.

References

External links

Controversies have always tailed Shibu Soren
- 123bharath.com article dated 20 July 2004

-

rediff.com Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...

article dated 21 July 2004
Shibu Soren goes underground
- Mid Day article dated 21 July 2004 * -

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language India, Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the Indian Express Limited, ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnat ...

article dated 24 July 2004
Shibu Soren resigns after arrest warrant
- Yahoo! India News story dated 24 July 2004
Shibu Soren: from farmer's son to fugitive minister
- 123bharath.com article dated 24 July 2004

- Indiainfo.com article dated 2 March 2004

- rediff.com article dated 2 March 2004
Home Page on the Parliament of India's Website

News timeline for Shibu Soren
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soren, Shibu 1944 births Living people Santali people Chief ministers of Jharkhand Overturned convictions People acquitted of murder Jharkhand Mukti Morcha politicians Rajya Sabha members from Bihar Rajya Sabha members from Jharkhand India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 1989–1991 India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1999–2004 India MPs 2004–2009 India MPs 2009–2014 India MPs 2014–2019 People from Ramgarh district Lok Sabha members from Jharkhand People from Dumka district People from Jamtara district Coal ministers of India