Bhima-Koregaon: Bombay High Court Judge Justice Revati Mohite Dere recuses from hearing plea by accused

Bombay High Court's Justice Revati Mohite Dere on Wednesday recused herself from hearing two applications, one by Delhi University's Prof. Hany Babu and the other by rights' activist Gautam Navlakha, both accused in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case..Justice Dere was heading a division bench also comprising Justice Virendrasingh Bisht. The bench, had on its board, the bail application filed by Babu, who had been denied relief by a special court on February 14 this year. The application filed by Navalakha seeking access to telephone in the Taloja jail, where he is currently lodged, was also listed before the bench.However, when the matters were called out, Justice Dere said, "Not before me. To be listed before appropriate bench."This is not the first time that Justice Dere has recused herself from hearing case related to the Bhima Koregaon Violence. In 2019, she had recused from hearing a plea filed by one of the Bhima Koregaon accused seeking default bail.Justice Dere is not the only judge to recuse from hearing Bhima Koregaon cases. Justice Sadhana S Jadhav had in April this year, recused from hearing a clutch of petitions filed in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018.Before that, Justices PB Varale and SS Shinde had also recused from the matter..In his bail application, Babu, 54, who has been in custody for the last two year, has challenged the orders of the special court.The special court had denied him bail stating that there was sufficient material on record to prosecute him. It had also recorded a finding that he was an active member of the committee formed for organising the legal defence for GNN Sai Baba, an alleged member of the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit.However, Babu has claimed that the special court didn't appreciate the material on record.The bail plea stated the prosecution has wrongly invoked various charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). He further claimed that even if the contents of the FIR lodged against him are taken at their face value, only the offence of supporting a terrorist outfit (sections 38 and 39 of the UAPA) was made out, which provide a sentence of maximum 10 years in jail.The DU professor further claimed that the prosecution in the case hasn't booked him for either funding, raising funds for the outfit or even for procuring weapons or participating in the alleged terrorist activities of the CPI(Maoist). It was further highlighted that he has already spent two years in prison and that the trial isn't likely to commence soon and that there are over 50 witnesses in the case to be examined during the trial. The chargesheet in the case runs into over 13,000 pages, the plea pointed out. .Meanwhile, Navalakha has sought access to telephone so that he can speak to his family members. He has claimed that ever since the video conferencing facility was shut, he hasn't been allowed to speak to his family members and thus should be allowed to speak to his wife over telephone.