Now four judges have refused to hear appeal

Two judges of a Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court on Thursday recused themselves from hearing an appeal filed by Raghaveshwara Bharati Swami of Sri Ramachandrapura Mutt questioning a single judge bench’s order refusing to quash the rape and sexual harassment case registered against him.

With this, the number of judges who have refused to hear the appeal has gone up to four. While Justice H.G. Ramesh said he cannot hear the case as he had worked as a junior lawyer under Senior Counsel B.V. Acharya, who has been engaged to argue the seer’s plea, prior to his elevation as a judge, the other member of the bench, Justice P.B. Bajanthri, said he will not hear the plea, though he did not cite any reason.

Earlier, Justice Ram Mohan Reddy and Justice N. Kumar had recused from hearing the plea.

While Justice Reddy said he has some reservation after he heard the plea for some time before recusing from the case, Justice Kumar had recused without citing any reason.

One more judge, Justice K.N. Phaneendra had refused to hear the seer’s plea against the conduct of a medical test after it was pointed out that a woman complainant had questioned delay of pronouncement of verdict by him when he rejected the seer’s plea for quashing the case.

Raghaveshwara Bharati Swami has questioned a single judge bench’s order

One more judge refused to hear the seer’s plea against the conduct of a medical test