In a video that has gone viral on social media, a Patna High Court judge is heard asking a suspended Bihar government official whether he got his job through reservation.
Days ago, the same judge was seen in another viral video admonishing policemen for demolishing the home of a petitioner with bulldozer.
Politicians in Bihar have so far refused to react to the Patna HC judge’s comment. “Why do you want to put me in a legal bind? Court ka mamla hain na (Isn’t it a court issue?),” was the common response from state’s political and social fraternity.
In the viral video of a court session from November 23, Justice Sandeep Kumar of Patna High Court is heard asking a suspended Land Acquisition Officer of Bihar government whether he had got the job through reservation, which triggered laughter from lawyers in the courtroom.
“Bharti ji reservation per aaye the naukari me kya? (Bharti ji, did you get the job through reservation?),” Justice Sandeep Kumar is heard in the video clip from the livestream of the court seesion.
The court was hearing a case involving suspended District Land Acquisition Officer Arvind Kumar Bharti, who was asked to appear and explain to the court why he had released land acquisition compensation to a party while a partition suit was pending. The court was also informed that the officer was suspended in a vigilance trap case.
When the officer left the court after replying in the affirmative that he was in fact employed through reservation quota, the judge could be heard in the video clip saying, “Samajh gaye naam se (I understood from the name).” The lawyers and others present in the courtroom were heard laughing at that time.
A lawyer then is heard commenting, “Do naukari ke barabar toh ho gaya hoga? (He must have been worth two jobs)”, to which the judge said, “Nahi, nahi, yeh sab kuch nahi hota in logon ka… yeh bechara paisa jo kamaya hoga khatam kar diya hoga (No, nothing of this sort happens to these people. The poor fellow might have exhausted whatever he might have earned)”. Later, Justice Kumar is heard adjourning the case and giving time to parties to file their responses.
The officer Arvind Kumar Bharti, later, while speaking to a section of media dismissed the Judge’s comment and said it might have been made in a “lighter vein”.
Days ago, another video had gone viral on social media in which Justice Sandeep Kumar was heard admonishing policemen for illegally demolishing the home of a petitioner.
“Yahan bhi bulldozer chalne laga… aisa kaun powerful aadmi hai jo bulldozer lekar tod diya uska… tamasha bana diya ki kisi ka ghar bulldozer se thod denge (So, bulldozer is being run here too… who are such powerful people who demolished someone’s (home) with a bulldozer… You made a spectacle that anyone’s home can be demolished with a bulldozer)”, commented the judge by pulling up the Agamkuan police of Patna for being hand in glove with some land mafia and illegally demolishing homes without following the due process of law.
The court was hearing the case of a petitioner Sahyoga Devi whose home was allegedly demolished by policemen. “Has the police station been given power to solve land disputes?” asked the judge. “If someone has an issue, he will go to the police station, pay a bribe and get someone’s house demolished. Why don’t you close the civil court?”
