26, Jan 2010

Gulberg Society victims demand transfer of trial, allege Judge’s bias

Some witnesses and victims of the Gulberg Society communal riots massacre in 2002 have demanded transfer of the trial from the special court of Judge B.U. Joshi, alleging a “bias” in favour of the accused. A transfer petition was subsequently filed in the court of principal sessions Judge G.B. Shah. The transfer petition alleged that the Judge, Joshi, showed a distinct bias in favour of the accused. After the first two witnesses, Irfan Pathan and Rupa Mody had recorded their statements, no other witnesses were allowed to identify the accused and any objections raised by the lawyers of the witnesses were constantly overruled.
Furthermore, the petition states the treatment of accused constable Rajesh Jinger. Jinger was arraigned as an accused, but the judge did not order his arrest and allowed him to go free on a bond. This occurred despite the fact that Jinger did not file a bail plea.
The petition states how the victims don’t see any hope of justice from Judge Joshi and cited the example of the Best bakery case as one which was transferred to another court.

The media reports are from The Hindu, The Indian Express, CJP Online and The Times of India.

1. Gulberg Society victims demand transfer of trial  (The Hindu) (Jan. 26, 2010)
2. Witnesses call trial judge biased (The Indian Express) (Jan. 26, 2010) 
3. GULBERG TRIAL UPDATE Victim Witnesses Move Tranfer Petition,  Judge Biased (CJP Online) (Jan. 25, 2010) 
4. Gulbarg massacre witnesses demand change of judge (The Times of India)  (Jan. 26, 2010) 

Credits: Sabrangindia https://sabrangindia.in/indepth/gulberg-massacre-tortuous-journey-justice?page=4