The counsels of Faizabad court blast accused have moved an application in a local court alleging that the Additional District Judge, R K Gautam, who is hearing the case, has Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) background and therefore his judgment will not be impartial. “You were a member of the RSS and still have many friends in the organisation, which you have admitted during the course of the hearing. The RSS and government officers linked with the RSS have played a major role in trapping innocent Muslims in terrorist cases. So, we do not have any hope of getting justice in your court,” the application moved by the counsels, Mohammad Shoaib and Jamal Ahmad, stated.
Shoaib said they had urged Justice Gautam not to continue with the hearing. He said the judge was deputed for the hearing of the case on the orders of the Faizabad District Judge. After conducting a few hearings, Gautam was transferred. “After being transferred, his successor should hear the case. But Justice Gautam was still hearing it,” Shoaib said. The proceedings in the case are at present going on at the Faizabad Central Jail on the orders of the district judge since the police had failed to provide security to the lawyers of the blast accused.