Judge recuses from Elgar Parishad cases, new bench to hear pleas

The new Bench, comprising Justice SB Shukre and AB Borkar, will hear all pleas related to the Elgar Parishad from here on.

A new Bench of the Bombay High Court will now hear all the pleas related to the Elgar Parishad case after a judge recused himself from the case in which several arrests have been made since 2018.

Chief Justice Dipankar Datta announced a new bench of judges comprising Justice SB Shukre and AB Borkar after Justice SS Shinde recused himself from the cases. The Chief Justice has conveyed the decision to the administrative body of the High Court.

The previous Bench led by Justice SS Shinde has been hearing writ petitions pertaining to the Elgar Parishad incident since 2020 till the end of 2021, when the assignment for writ petitions was transferred to another Bench led by Justice Nitin Jamdar, followed by Justice PB Varale.

Justice Varale, however, also recused from hearing the matters pertaining to the case. After that, the cases were sent to an alternate Bench headed by Justice SS Shinde.

Sources said that Justice Shinde will continue hearing the plea filed by the three accused in the case seeking a review of the judgment that refused them default bail since the order was passed by his Bench earlier. Apart from this, Justice Shinde has recused from hearing every other petition arising from the 2018 case.

It was the Bench led by Justice Shinde which had pronounced two major orders in the case, granting bail to two accused - Telugu poet Varavara Rao and lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj.

His bench was also hearing bail appeals filed by another accused, Stan Swamy, before his death while in judicial custody. Justice Shinde had then made some remarks praising Swamy's social service. The NIA counsel had objected to the same, prompting the judge to take it back.