Long arm of the law catch up with maverick judge

Official with penchant for setting bizarre bail conditions stripped of judicial powers

In a significant move, the Patna High Court has revoked all judicial powers of a judge who has been hitting the headlines in the recent past for setting bizarre conditions for granting bail to accused persons.

The High Court in its order passed on Friday directed the additional district and sessions judge Avinash Kumar, currently posted in Jhanjharpur sub-division of Bihar’s Madhubani district, not to undertake judicial work until further orders.

In his latest order, the maverick judge granted bail to a person accused of attacking villagers on the condition that he would feed five street dogs for a month.

The accused, man Mohammad Sajjad, reportedly injured some villagers with a knife two years back and had been lodged in prison for the past five months.

Mark of repentance

On September 21, the judge had asked a man accused of rape attempt to wash and iron the clothes of all women in his village for six months and personally return them to the persons concerned as a mark of repentance. The man from washerman community Lalan Kumar Safi was accused of barging into the house of a woman and allegedly attempting to outrage her modesty. The very next day, the judge granted bail to the accused Shivji Mishra on the condition that he would supply free milk to five malnourished Dalit children for six months.

Assault case

The man accused of assault was told to provide half a litre milk to each Dalit child and submit a certificate about his service to be procured from village council officials to the court.

In another order issued earlier this month, the judge asked a molester to clean the drain in front of his house as a condition for bail. The order stated, “…he is directed to be released on bail on furnishing bail bond of Rs10,000 with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of the learned court below with condition that as per statement of counsel for the petitioner, the petitioner shall clean, maintain and supervise Nala (drain) situated in front of his house.”

Yet in another order passed this month, the judge had asked two persons accused of black-marketing of food grains to distribute two kilograms of pulses among 25 poor families while clearly stating that 25 per cent of them should be from Dalit community.

In his latest order, the judge granted bail to a person accused of attacking villagers on the condition that he would feed five street dogs for a month.