Another HC judge to hear Sohrab case

MUMBAI: A new judge will hear the appeals in the Bombay high court in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh case from Monday. According to the list of new assignments published by the HC on its website on Saturday, Justice Revati Mohite-Dere, who was hearing appeals in the alleged fake encounter case, has been assigned to hear bail and anticipatory bail applications.Justice Nitin Sambre has now been assigned criminal writ petitions and criminal bail applications, given earlier to Mohite-Dere. So according to the list, Justice Sambre is supposed to hear the Sohrabuddin case.
However, if parties to the matter approach the acting chief justice and request that the same bench be asked to hear the case, the court could, at its discretion, still assign it to Mohite-Dere.
Assignments are changed in a routine manner by the HC after every few months, a number of lawyers said. “On the basis of the new assignments, Justice Mohite-Dere won’t be able to continue hearing the matter. It will now go before another judge,” said senior advocate Mihir Desai.
“This is unless the parties agree and approach the acting chief justice with a prayer to treat the matter as part-heard so that the matter can again be assigned to the same bench that was hearing it. A new judge will now have to hear the matters afresh. This would be a waste of judicial time,” said Desai, who has earlier represented Sohrabuddin’s brother Rubabuddin in the petition challenging BJP president Amit Shah’s discharge from the case.
During hearings, Mohite-Dere has repeatedly said the court was not getting enough assistance from CBI. “I am still unclear on the prosecution’s overall case,” the judge had remarked last week.
Senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani, who represents some IPS officers discharged in the case by a lower court, said he had not received any information on the change of assignment, and added that if it was true, there was no need to “read too much into it”. “Assignments in courts change everyday. There’s no reason to read too much into it,” he said.
In January, Mohite-Dere “quashed and set aside” a special CBI court order restraining the media from publishing news about the trial in the case. She had called the press the “most powerful watchdog of society” and said the CBI did not have powers to ban the media from reporting the proceedings.
“The rights of the press are intrinsic to the constitutional right to freedom of expression. In reporting from an open trial, the press not only makes use of its own right, but serves the larger purpose of making such information available to the general public,” the judge had held.
The HC is presently hearing appeals filed by CBI challenging the discharge of Gujarat officer N K Amin and Rajasthan police constable Dalpat Rathod. Rubabuddin has challenged the dropping of charges against Rajasthan IPS officer Dinesh M N, former Gujarat deputy inspector general D G Vanzara and Gujarat IPS officer Rajkumar Pandiyan.