Shibu Soren

Soren was born in Nemra village of Ramgarh district, in what was, at the time, Bihar state, India. He belongs to Santal tribe.[2] 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.[3] In 1972, Bengali Maxist trade union leader A. K. Roy, Kurmi-Mahato leader Binod Bihari Mahato and Santal leader Shibu Soren formed Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. 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.[4] 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.[5] However, possibly related incitement charges—dating from two earlier deaths in 1974—remain pending.[6][7]

He lost his first Lok Sabha 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 Rajya Sabha. 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 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.[8] 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 Jharkhand in February/March 2005.[9]

On 2 March 2005, after much political bargaining and quid pro quo he was invited to form the government in Jharkhand 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 in the assembly. In 2019 Lok Sabha Elections he lost to Sunil Soren of BJP from Dumka constituency.

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 area in Delhi on 22 May 1994 and taken to Piska Nagari near Ranchi 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 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 for Coal after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 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.[10]

On 25 June 2007, Shibu Soren was being escorted to his jail in Dumka, Jharkhand when his convoy was attacked by bombs,[11] but no one was hurt.[12]

The Delhi High Court 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 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.[13]

He is married to Roopi Kisku. He has three sons Durga Soren, Hemant Soren, and Basant Soren and a daughter, Anjali Soren. Hemant Soren is the current Chief Minister of Jharkhand, having held the same office previously from July 2013 to December 2014.[14] His elder son Durga Soren was MLA from Jama from 1995 to 2005.[15] Durga's wife Sita Soren is current MLA from Jama. Basant Soren is president of the Jharkhand Yuva Morcha, a youth wing of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and current MLA from Dumka.[16] [17]

• Controversies have always tailed Shibu Soren - 123bharath.com article dated 20 July 2004
• Jharkhand cops chasing Union minister with arrest warrant - rediff.com article dated 21 July 2004
• Shibu Soren goes underground - Mid Day article dated 21 July 2004
• PM asks Shibu Soren to resign - Indian Express 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
• Shibu Soren appointed as Chief Minister of Jharkhand - Indiainfo.com article dated 2 March 2004
• Shibu Soren sworn in as Jharkhand CM - rediff.com article dated 2 March 2004
• Home Page on the Parliament of India's Website
• News timeline for Shibu Soren