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Bombay High Court upholds magistrate's dismissal for giving favourable orders to woman advocate

The Bombay high court has upheld the dismissal of a chief judicial magistrate from Nanded district for developing close relations with a woman advocate and passing arbitrary orders as a favour to her.

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The Bombay high court has upheld the dismissal of a chief judicial magistrate from Nanded district for developing close relations with a woman advocate and passing arbitrary orders as a favour to her. The court observed that the standards which are to be observed and maintained by a judicial officer ought to be of an “extraordinary” quality.

A division bench of justices Abhay Oka and Anil Menon was hearing a petition filed by the magistrate, challenging his dismissal order passed in 2004 by the Disciplinary Authority comprising chief justice of the HC and other judges. The order was accepted by the state government.

In March 2001, the magistrate was charged for brazenly abusing his office, which amounts to grave misconduct, unbecoming of a judicial officer. The petitioner has been charged of arbitrarily and without jurisdiction ordering the release of the woman advocate's brothers who were in jail.
While denying the allegation of proximity with the advocate, the magistrate admitted that he had passed “arbitrary orders without application of mind”.

However, after going through the facts and evidence in the case, the HC opined that no interference is required to be made in the dismissal order.
“In our view, the penalty imposed is completely justified. The petitioner (magistrate) was a judicial officer. The standards which are to be observed and maintained by a judicial officer ought to be of an extraordinary quality. The allegations against the petitioner in this case were extremely serious. As chief judicial magistrate, he was obligated to maintain dignity of the judicial service. This was a matter of paramount importance,” the judges said.

“We have no doubt that the conduct of the petitioner in the matters that were brought before him was completely unjustified, lacking in credibility, revealing obvious dishonesty, lack of integrity and a questionable character.”

Observing that it shocks the conscience of this court that a responsible officer holding the post of chief judicial magistrate has behaved in this manner, the bench said, “Time has come to send a message that such serious instances of misconduct cannot be treated with kid gloves. Looking at the gross misconduct, no leniency can be shown.”

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