New Delhi: Attorney general K.K. Venugopal on Friday urged the bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Uday Lalit not to hear the petition filed by Army personnel against the registration of cases against them by the CBI. The AG told the bench that certain earlier observations of the bench had seriously demoralised the armed forces and sought recusal of the two judges, who are presently monitoring the CBI investigations into the alleged extra judicial killings of about 1,528 persons in Manipur by security forces between 1985-2001.
The AG told the court that there is a genuine “apprehension of bias” from the bench by the accused personnel as according to him the court had termed some of the charge sheeted persons as “murderers. The AG who was supported by senior advocate and former Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi.
The AG said, “If there is a feeling of bias the matter must go to some other bench. Since your Lord-ships have called them murderers, how does it matter if the petitions are transferred to some other bench?” Justice Lokur sought to allay the apprehensions expressed by the AG saying that the bench was only monitoring the probe, as the CBI was the investigating agency.
