3 days ago
Thane gaushala fined for accusing court of 'bias' over plea for custody of animals
A Thane Sessions Court on Monday imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Shree Leela Purshottam Gaushala Seva Trust for seeking the transfer of hearing in a case, claiming it would not get justice from the concerned court. The gaushala had moved an application for transfer of proceedings related to the interim custody of animals seized under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act, animals had been taken into custody by Bhoiwada Police and handed over to the gaushala. The accused in the case later sought interim custody of the animals, to which the gaushala responded with its own custody to the gaushala, the court showed a bias during the hearing. It alleged that the judge seemed to have made up his mind after the accused's lawyer argued the matter in detail, while the gaushala's lawyer got only five minutes.
Citing this, the gaushala approached the Sessions Court for the transfer of the case and for the removal of certain structures in the lower court's Sessions Judge SB Agarwal observed that the lower court had merely recorded the conduct and sequence of events factually. According to the order, the gaushala's advocate asked for 1.5 to 2 hours to argue the case, to which the judge responded that he was holding charge of four courts and needed to deliver a this, the lawyer began shouting in court, saying he had lost faith in the proceedings and would not argue the matter Agarwal ruled that while a reasonable apprehension of bias is necessary to justify the transfer of a case, none existed in this matter. He also dismissed the plea to remove parts of the earlier order, stating that they did not amount to structures."In such circumstances, the application deserves to be rejected with fine," Judge Agarwal noted while directing the gaushala to deposit Rs 10,000 within two weeks.
