SC judge recuses from hearing Punjab govt plea against bail to Majithia
Darpan News Desk IANS, 30 Jan, 2023 12:21 PM
New Delhi, Jan 30 (IANS) Supreme Court judge Justice Surya Kant on Monday recused himself from hearing a Punjab government plea challenging the high court order, which granted bail to Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia in a drug case.
The matter was listed for Monday before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.K. Maheshwari.
As soon as the matter came up for hearing, Justice Surya Kant said he was part of the high court bench which passed directions to set up a special task force to investigate the matter.
Majithia, the brother-in-law of SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal and brother of former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, had been lodged in the Patiala jail on February 24 last year.
The Punjab government, represented by senior advocate Shyam Divan, moved the apex court challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court order dated August 10, 2022.
The bench ordered: "Let the matter be listed before a bench in which one of us (Justice Kant) is not a member."
Granting bail to Majithia, the high court had observed that there were "reasonable grounds" to believe that he is not guilty. Majithia was released after spending more than five months in the Patiala jail in the drug case.
However, the high court had clarified that the trial court should proceed independently of the observations made by it. Majithia was booked on the basis of a 2018 report of the anti-drug special task force (STF) into a drug racket in the state.
As per visuals released from the spot, thick fumes of black smoke along with a massive blaze could be seen billowing out of the ill-fated three-storey building. The firemen used the fire truck ladder to reach out to the maximum possible height to spray water over the blaze.
A 35-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly duping over 100 women on the pretext of marriage, an official said here on Friday. The accused, who has been identified as Farhan Taseer Khan, is himself married and stayed in a rented accomodation in Delhi.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday dismissed its four Sub-Inspectors after placing them under arrest for demanding Rs 25 lakh bribe from a businessman in Chandigarh threatening him of implication in a terror case. The accused officials were identified as Sumit Gupta, Pardeep Rana, Ankur Kumar, Akash Ahlawat, all posted in Delhi office.
The latest arrestee, identified as Abdul alias Raja, was found involved in allegedly orchestrating violence and also provoking the crowd to resort to stone pelting during the Hanuman Jayanti procession.
Addressing a high-level meeting here, the Chief Minister categorically said in case any incident of drug supply comes to his notice from any part of the state, then the concerned Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) or the Commissioner of Police (CP) would be held solely accountable.
Police sources said that the accident took place at Khandli in Rajouri, when a bus coming from Peeri to Rajouri collided with a tipper coming from the opposite direction.
