Slur campaign makes Karnataka high court judge recuse from murder case

Karnataka high court judge, justice K Sreedhar Rao on Wednesday recused himself from hearing a case relating to the 2003 murder of an Intel employee.

Justice Rao refused to further hear the case filed by S Shubha and three others, convicted of murder by a lower court, following a “scurrilous campaign” against him.

Unidentified men had distributed pamphlets on the court premises on September 8, which made the judge to recuse himself. The justice felt that the pamphlets, aimed at tarnishing his image, were the handiwork of “some insiders in the justice administrative system.”

“Due to destiny, this case has come before the division bench I am heading. The arguments for the suspension of the sentence (awarded by the lower court) and the bail application are the same. They (appellants and respondents) have argued the case, and it has not been reposed. Benefit of early hearing, in this case, was a solitary incident,” justice Rao said.

A fast track court had sentenced Shubha, Arun Verma, Dinesh and Venkatesh to life imprisonment for murdering software engineer, BV Girish on December 3, 2003. They approached the high court challenging the lower court’s order and requested bail. Justices Rao and BV Pinto were hearing the case.

“On September 8, 2010, during the pre-lunch session, it was heard that pamphlets with scurrilous allegations were being circulated. The pamphlet alleged that I have been bribed. This is blatantly false. The special public prosecutor and complainants have filed affidavits and have cooperated. It (the pamphlets) is the handiwork of some insiders in the justice administrative system, whose only motive is to tarnish my image. Because of this scurrilous campaign, I want to be relieved from this case for personal reasons,” justice Rao added.   

The justice added that he had “22 years of unblemished service” in various courts in the state. He had so far disposed as many as 27,500 cases in his career as a judge.

The division bench adjourned the case after special public prosecutor Venkat Rao brought the distribution of pamphlets to its notice.

Observing that the pamphlets, titled Get Justice for Girish, were targeted at him, justice Rao directed the appellants and respondents to file affidavits to state if they wanted him to continue heading the bench hearing the case.