Sohrabuddin Case: Bombay HC Says Removing Justice Revati ‘Routine’

Justice Mohite-Dere had pulled up the CBI for being quiet on discharge of most of the senior officers in the case.

Kausar Bi and Sohrabuddin Sheikh.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter) 

The registrar general of the Bombay high court has said that the list of changes in assignments for benches put out on 25 February, that resulted in the appeals in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case being assigned to a new judge, was routine, reported The Times of India.

“It is a usual change in assignments. Every two or three months, roster is changed. The acting chief justice is not supposed to know of each and every individual matter. The note is very clear that parties can approach the acting CJ to treat the matter as part-heard and it can then be delegated to the same bench that is hearing the case ,” registrar general Shrinivas Agrawal told the daily.

Justice NW Sambre to Replace Justice Revati Mohite-Dere

The Bombay High Court judge hearing petitions challenging the discharge of some senior IPS officers in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case has been replaced, reported PTI. About three weeks after Justice Revati Mohite-Dere started conducting day-to-day hearing in the case, Justice NW Sambre will now take over all criminal revision applications.

According to a notice published on the Bombay High Court website, Justice Mohite-Dere will now be dealing with anticipatory bail plea applications.

Revision applications filed by Sohrabuddin's brother Rubabuddin, challenging the discharge of IPS officers DG Vanzara, Dinesh MN and Rajkumar Pandian and two revision applications filed by the CBI against the discharge of former Gujarat IPS officer NK Amin and Rajasthan police constable Dalpat Singh Rathod were being heard by Justice Mohite-Dere. She had already heard a major part of the arguments on four out of the five revision applications.

According to a report by PTI, lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani, who is representing the IPS officers, said: "Assignments in courts change every day. There's no reason to read too much into it."

Over the course of last three weeks, Justice Mohite-Dere had pulled up the CBI for going quiet on the discharge of most of the senior officers in the fake encounter case, while only opposing the discharge of sub inspectors and constables associated with the alleged fake encounter.

Justice Revati Mohite-Dere had also lifted the gag order on the media from reporting on the Sohrabuddin Sheikh alleged fake encounter case.

(With inputs from PTI and TOI)

(This is a developing story and will be updated.)

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