A judge cannot be considered biased merely because his relatives are members of a political party in power, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday.
The remark from a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde came on a plea to disband an inquiry commission chaired by former Supreme Court judge, Justice B.S. Chauhan, to look into the Uttar Pradesh police encounter of history-sheeter Vikas Dubey. The Commission was set up by the Uttar Pradesh government after the court’s approval.
The applicant, advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay, referred to articles published about some relatives of Justice Chauhan who are with the ruling BJP in the State. Mr. Upadhyay said there was a conflict of interest issue involved.
“There are judges whose father, brothers, relatives, etc, are Members of Parliament... If your relatives belong to a party, that means you are biased?” Chief Justice Bobde asked Mr. Upadhyay.
The CJI said the court would not allow aspersions to be cast on a former Supreme Court judge on the basis of a media report.
“Are any of these relatives even remotely involved in the incident or in the inquiry in question? This application should be dismissed even without seeking a reply [from the U.P. government]... You are making all kinds of allegations against a respected judge of this court,” Chief Justice Bobde told Mr. Upadhyay during the virtual hearing.
The court reserved the application for orders.
The other members of the Commission are Justice (retd) Shashi Kant Agarwal and former Uttar Pradesh DGP K.L. Gupta.
Dubey was gunned down while allegedly trying to escape from custody when the vehicle carrying him in a police convoy met with an accident. He and his henchmen were wanted for ambushing a police team and killing eight officers.
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