The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred the hearing on the petition for removal of the trial judge in Gujarat riots’ Gulberg Society massacre case till the state high court’s Chief Justice take an administrative decision on an application submitted to him for identical relief.
The removal of the special judge holding trial in the Gulberg Society case was sought following a petition by Zakia Jafri, the widow of slain Congress MP Ehsan Jaffri in the Supreme Court that the judge was “rushing” through the trial proceedings and not giving enough chance to the witnesses to depose the way they wanted.
A special bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices D.K. Jain, P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam posted further hearing on the contentious issue to January 20, 2011, saying that it would be appropriate to wait for the decision of the HC Chief Justice.
“We would like to wait for the decision of the high court Chief Justice on administrative side,” Justice Jain, heading the bench said and passed a brief order to this effect.
The complaint against the trial judge was filed before the HC Chief Justice by the NGO, Citizen for Justice and Peace, alleging the judge was not giving proper opportunity to the key witnesses to record their statements in a sensitive case like this, and hence, he should be shifted form the special court.
The top court also directed special investigating team (SIT) headed by the former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chief, Mr R.K. Raghavan, to supply the copies of the statements of some key witnesses recorded by it to the NGO’s counsel to enable him to appreciate the evidences properly during the trial.