Rabri Devi, who had served as the chief minister of Bihar, on Monday came to a court in Delhi seeking transfer of four CBI and ED cases that are against her to another judge citing bias and unfairness in the trial underway. The plea is supposed to be resumed later in the day by Principal Sessions Judge Dinesh Bhatt at the Rouse Avenue Court.
The application has been filed by Advocates Varun Jain and Navin Kumar and contains that the cases are being heard by Special Judge Vishal Gogne. Rabri Devi has requested that the issues be transferred to a different court with proper jurisdiction arguing that she has a reasonable and good faith concern that she will not get a fair and unbiased hearing under the current judge.
The former chief minister has suffered discrimination through several court hearings according to the plea. It also charges that the special judge seems to have a pre-determined attitude of conducting the hearings with the intention of convicting her. According to the application, the behavior of the judge before whom it was tried indicates that he or she has disproportionate likelihood of the prosecution, and it questions the impartiality the court is supposed to provide in such high profile matters.
The petition points out that the perceived bias is not a matter of speculation, rather it is founded upon particular instances that have been observed, during the hearings in all the four cases. This kind of behaviour, it postulates, has given rise to a valid issue as far as the fairness of the trial is concerned.
Among the cases being tried are the so-called land-for-jobs scandal in which the court in October framed charges against the husband and former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav of Rabri Devi and labeled him the fountainhead of a conspiracy to tamper with railway tender offers in exchange of land and other favors.
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