Allahabad HC suspends judge for giving bail to rape accused Gayatri Prajapati

Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court has suspended the Additional Sessions Judge Om Prakash Misra for granting bail to rape accused former SP minister, Gayatri Prajapati. The court has also ordered a departmental inquiry against the judge that will be headed by Justice Sudhir Agarwal. The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court had, on Friday, stayed the bail given to the former minister by the local court.

Putting the bail on hold ‘until further orders’ on Friday, Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale had said, “I may however observe that the manner in which the learned judge has shown the haste in releasing the accused on bail ignoring the nature of offence allegedly committed by the respondent accused and the fact that the crime came to be registered against these accused by virtue of the order of the Supreme Court dated 17/2/2017, I have my reservations about the bonafides/intention of the learned judge who is about to retire on 30/4/2017.”

The former minister, accused of raping a woman and attempting to rape her minor daughter, was granted bail by special judge of POCSO court Om Prakash Misra on Tuesday.

400 officers transferred
Meanwhile, the Allahabad High Court has transferred close to 400 judicial officers, nearly half of them of the Additional District and Sessions Judge rank, in a major reshuffle in the lower judiciary in Uttar Pradesh. The transferred judicial officers include 199 ADJs posted in regular courts and another eight posted at fast track courts.