SC raps senior lawyer for casting aspersion on HC judges

The reference to Bombay High Court judges, who had closed a criminal case involving Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, by senior advocate Dushayant Dave in the B H Loya case did not go down well with the Supreme Court which rapped him for casting aspersions on the judiciary.

The top court took strong note of Dave's plea to bring on record the order of the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court to allege that one of the two judges, who had given a statement in the special CBI Judge B H Loya death case, had ordered settlement of a criminal case against the chief minister in 2014.

Dave, representing the Bombay Lawyers Association (BLA), had said a bench of justices B R Gawai and V M Deshpande had closed the prosecution against Fadnavis and others in criminal cases lodged way back in 1991.

Alleging political affiliations, Dave had said the judge concerned was one of those who had said he was with Judge Loya on the fateful day when he had died of a heart attack.

The apex court noted that Dave had gone to the "extent of insinuating that one individual is controlling the entire judiciary in Maharashtra and elsewhere."