Lawyers miffed over transfer of chief justice in Shopian case

‘Pro-Azadi’ Kashmir High Court Bar Association (KHCBA) expressed displeasure at the transfer of J&K chief justice Barin Ghosh to Sikkim high court .

Justice Ghosh was heading the division bench of the high court which was monitoring the investigation into the Shopian “rape and murder” case.

“He is a brilliant judge who is best among the lot in India. But the state government and the agencies do not want rule of law in Kashmir. They want anarchy in Kashmir and that is why he was transferred”, said GN Shaheen, general-secretary of KHCBA.

Justice Ghosh, 57, took over as Chief Justice of J&K in January last year. In his tenure, several high profile cases including Shopian and delimitation of assembly seats came up for the hearing. “He decided the de-limitation judiciously which was not to the liking of the government. He was victimised for being fair”, Shaheen said.

Enrolled as an advocate in the High Court of Calcutta in 1978, Justice Ghosh was appointed as a Permanent Judge of the Calcutta High Court in 1995 and later transferred to the Patna High Court in 2005.

It was during last year’s alleged Shopian rape and murder case that Justice Ghosh played a crucial role. Majlis-e-Mashawarat (MeM) spearheading the campaign for justice for the alleged rape and murder victims of Shopian, ended their 62 day strike after his promise to do justice.

Justice Ghosh passed a rare order when he directed all courts in J&K to deny bail to the 5 police officers arrested for allegedly destroying evidence in Shopian case, without consulting the HC. The order however was turned down by the apex court.