New Delhi: Justice Amit Sharma on Wednesday recused himself from hearing a plea filed by Asif Iqbal Tanha against the leaking of his alleged confessional statement to the media in a larger conspiracy related to the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots.
This comes after Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani, another judge of the Delhi High Court recused himself from hearing the same matter.
Under the orders of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, the court has listed the matter for further hearing on April 24.
Justice Amit Sharma was appointed as an additional judge last year and became a permanent judge last month.
Justice Sharma asked the Delhi Police whether the chargesheet in the case was related to the investigation conducted by the Special Cell, to which Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad responded in the affirmative.
Justice Sharma remarked: “It has to be listed before some other bench. Listing before another bench on Monday subject to the orders of the Hon’ble Chief Justice.”
Earlier, on April 12, Justice Bhambhani had recused himself from the matter “in the larger interest of the overall credibility of the judicial system”.
Tanha had filed the petition against various news reports which claimed that he had confessed to organizing and instigating the riots.
The petition pending before the court has sought a direction to delete the sensitive information allegedly leaked by the police in connection with the probe against the media houses.
The Delhi Police had informed the court that the investigating officers could not establish the source from where the investigation details were allegedly shared with the press.