Justice Sonia Gokani of Gujarat High Court on 25 July recused herself from hearing a bail application filed by Mohammad Abdul Qavi, who was arrested in the 2003 in a conspiracy case. Justice Gokani presided over Pota cases including this case for a few years, when she was designated as a Pota judge. Gokani said that the bail application should be placed before a bench, in which she is not a member. As per the present business allotted by the Chief Justice, the bail plea came up for hearing before the bench of Justice Anant Dave and Justice Gokani. Qavi has moved the HC for bail after a special Pota court refused bail to Qavi earlier this month.
Qavi has sought bail on the ground that he was falsely implicated in the case as there is no evidence against him. Gujarat police had slapped terror conspiracy charges against nearly 100 persons for allegedly inciting and taking Muslim youths to Pakistan for arms training to avenge the 2002 riots and to target members of the Hindu right wing.
BJP MINISTER SUGGESTS ‘2002 GUJARAT-RIOT MODEL’ FOR ENTIRE INDIA
BJP’s national executive member and general secretary of the party’s Karnataka unit, C.T. Ravi has blown up a controversy by “tweeting” inflammatory comments on 27 July over the Saharanpur riots in Uttar Pradesh. C.T. Ravi tweeted: “Only the Gujarat model that worked from 2002 in containing their rioting elements can work. Apply across Bharat.” The tweet was subsequently deleted from his Twitter account. A petition was filed by Delhi-based lawyer and activist Shehzad Poonawalla to National Human Rights Commission saying that Rao is using social media to stroke communal passions.