india

Updated: Oct 04, 2019 01:53 IST

Justice S Ravindra Bhat on Thursday became the fifth Supreme Court judge to recuse himself from hearing a plea filed by civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha, who has challenged a Bombay high court order refusing to quash a first information report (FIR) lodged against him in the January 1, 2018 caste clashes at Bhima Koregaon in Maharasthra’s Pune district.

Navlakha’s interim protection from arrest granted by the high court ends on Friday.

On September 30, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi recused himself from hearing Navlakha’s plea. A day later Justice BR Gavai who sat with Justices NV Ramana and Subhash Reddy requested not to list the matter before him. The formal order, uploaded on the Supreme Court website later in the day, reflected that all the judges on the bench, including Justices Ramana and Reddy had also recused themselves.

No one has specified a reason for their recusals, leaving it in the realm of speculation.

In India, there is no rule on judges recusing themselves from cases. It is their personal choice. However, it is usually based on sound reasons which the judge is not bound to disclose. Ethically a judge should not hear a case if either of the parties is his past client.

Secretary General of the Supreme Court did not respond to queries regarding the reasons for the recusals.

On Thursday, Justice Bhat was sitting with Justices Arun Mishra and Vineet Saran when the appeal came up for hearing before the bench. Justice Mishra being the senior most judge headed the bench. Justice Bhat wished not to be part of the bench hearing his appeal and gave no reasons for the recusal.

On Thursday, when the matter came up for hearing before a bench comprising justices Arun Mishra, Vineet Saran and Bhat, justice Bhat recused himself from hearing the case. When Navlakha’s lawyer, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, informed the bench that the protection extended to the activist from arrest expired on Friday, Justice Mishra assured his appeal would be heard on Friday. The top court shuts down for a Dussehra break next week.

On the recusals, Singhvi refused to comment, instead saying: “Its quite understandable that Justice Bhat, either possibly of having appeared or having being a member of PUDR would have recused himself.”

Navlakha’s plea is now listed before a special bench of justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta.

On January 1, 2018, violence broke out in Bhima Koregaon and other nearby villages on the 200th anniversary of a British-era war, leaving one person dead and at least 40 more injured. The war in 1818 was fought between the British army, which was manned primarily by the Dalits, and the Peshwas, the erstwhile rulers of the region known for their oppressive caste practices.

The police alleged that Navlakha and others accused in the case had Maoist links and were working towards toppling the government. They are accused of conspiring to foment the Bhima Koregaon caste clashes at an event held in Pune on December 31, 2017, called Elgar Parishad.

The Maharashtra government had earlier filed a caveat in the matter seeking to be heard before any orders were passed.

On September 13, the high court refused to quash the FIR lodged against him in the case, noting that prima facie there was substance in the case.

The high court had said, “Considering the magnitude of the case, we feel a thorough investigation is required”.

The high court had, however, extended the protection from arrest to Navlakha for a period of three weeks to enable him to approach the Supreme Court to file an appeal against its order.

Navlakha and the other accused were booked under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code.

Besides Navlakha, four others -- Varavara Rao, a poet-activist from Telangana; Arun Ferreira,lawyer and human rights activist; Vernon Gonsalves, an activist and former academic; and Sudha Bharadwaj, another civil rights activist and advocate -- are accused in the case. The others are lodged in jail. There are five other activists – Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson – who are also in jail after being arrested last year.

Commenting on recusals by the judges, Supreme Court senior advocate Sanjay Hedge said that judges recuse for a number of reasons but primarily to avoid any situation where fingers are pointed at them. “Justice Markandey Katju had once recused him self from a case involving Reliance because he had some shares or units of a Reliance. Recusing himself he said, ‘Zamana kharab hai’ .”