H K L BHAGAT Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Lord Acton in his Essays On Freedom (1948) said that the "most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by Minorities" We, as a nation, failed the test in November 1984 when thousands of innocent members of a minority community were subjected to murder, loot and arson. The petitioner H.K.L.Bhagat is alleged to be one of those persons involved in the butchery. He is facing trial in two of such cases pending before 'an Additional Sessions Judge. His grievance is that the learned Judge is biased against the politicians in general and against him in particular and that driven by that bias he has not only been passing "unsavoury" remarks against him but has also been importing material not relied upon by either side. It is also his grievance that he is not being shown any accommodation and that the learned Judge has been rushing through the cases in undue haste giving thereby an impression that he is in a great hurry to somehow convict him.

(2.) In support of the first contention my attention has been drawn to the following extracts taken from two orders. Whereas the first five are from an order passed on January 24, 1996, the remaining come from an order of February 19, 1996. Order of January 24, 1996.

(3.) As regards the second contention, my attention has been drawn to the fact that in one of the orders passed by the learned Judge he has referred to Ranganath Misra Commission and Jain. Aggarwal Committee Reports which, it is alleged, were not referred to or relied upon by either side.