Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday raised a question over the transfer of Delhi High Court Judge S. Muralidhar to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the timing of the Law Ministry’s notification.
A Division Bench headed by Justice Muralidhar had on Wednesday asked the Delhi Police to take a “conscious decision” on registration of First Information Reports against Bharatiya Janata Party leaders who had allegedly made hate speeches.
Mr. Gehlot asked what message the Centre was trying to convey by transferring Justice Muralidhar. “People have so much faith in the judiciary... The government’s attempts to undermine the justice system are very unfortunate,” Mr. Gehlot tweeted.
Justice Muralidhar had earlier, in a midnight hearing on Tuesday, ordered the Delhi Police to provide safe passage to about 20 persons injured and stranded in the Mustafabad locality during the violence, to a government hospital in another area of the national capital.
Third-most senior
The Supreme Court Collegium had recently recommended Justice Muralidhar’s transfer to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which was protested by the Delhi High Court Bar Association. He was the third-most senior Judge in the Delhi HC.
‘Midnight transfer’ of Justice Muralidhar an effort to shield BJP, says CPI(M)
Mr. Gehlot said a Congress delegation, led by party president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh, had submitted a memorandum on the Delhi violence to President Ram Nath Kovind. “The entire Congress party is worried to see how an environment of hate and communal tension is being created in the country,” the CM said.
