Upset HC judge refuses to hear bail petitions

Lucknow: Justice Pankaj Bhatia of the Allahabad high court's Lucknow bench expressed unwillingness on Friday to be part of the bail roster anymore after the Supreme Court castigated the manner in which he had granted bail, saying although it was well known that "there is no judge who can claim that his order has never been set aside or interfered with", the SC's observations "have had a huge demoralising and chilling effect on me".The order came in the course of hearing a bail plea filed by one Rakesh Tiwari. As the case was put up before Justice Bhatia, he took notice of the Supreme Court remarks passed in the case of Chetram Verma on Feb 9. In that case, Justice Bhatia had on October 10, 2025 granted bail to a husband accused of killing his wife over dowry.
Aggrieved by the HC order, the complainant, Chetram Verma, had challenged the bail order before the Supreme Court, which set aside Justice Bhatia's order with serious remarks. The Supreme Court had said, "The impugned order of Oct 10, 2025, is one of the most shocking and disappointing orders that we have come across over a period of time." The SC had noted that the HC had only considered that the accused husband had been in jail since July 27, 2025, and had no criminal history, and then granted him bail."What weighed with the high court in exercising its discretion in favour of the accused for the purpose of grant of bail in a very serious crime like dowry death," the SC had asked. After quashing the HC order, the SC had sent the copy of the order to the Allahabad HC Chief Justice for him to peruse the manner in which the order on the bail application was passed.Upset, Justice Bhatia refused to hear the present bail application and requested the HC's CJ not to allocate him bail matters for hearing. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Valentine's day wishes, messages and quotes !