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A division bench of the Delhi High Court on Thursday recused itself from hearing a contempt petition moved by a former judge of a district court against a lawyer after the petitioner levelled allegations of bias.
The retired judge had sought initiation of contempt proceedings against a lawyer who allegedly interfered with the administration of justice after being convicted for assaulting the retired judge. The former judge was also a lawyer practising at Tees Hazari district court at the time of the incident. The division bench of justices Sidharth Mridul and Amit Sharma said, "At the request of Ms. (Sujata) Kohli, the petitioner who appears in person, in order to obviate any possibility of alleged bias, we consider it appropriate to recuse from hearing the proceedings." The bench directed to list the matter before another court for hearing subject to the order of the Chief Justice. This matter pertains to a case of assault on Sujata Kohli in 1994. In this case, the then Delhi Bar Association Secretary Rajiv Khosla was convicted in December 2021. A Delhi Court had imposed a fine of Rs. 40,000 after holding him guilty of assault. It was alleged that she was assaulted as she did not participate in a strike called by him. He had called the strike against the formation of family courts. It was alleged that while the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate was passing the order, many lawyers were sloganeering in favour of Khosla. The two District judges had to come to the courtroom under whose presence the order was dictated. (ANI)
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