New Delhi [India], October 9 : Additional Session Judge (ASJ) Atul Ahlawat of Patiala House Court on Thursday recused himself from hearing the bail plea of Chaitanyanand Saraswati.
The matter is scheduled to be listed before the District Judge of Patiala House Court at 12:00 PM today.
Saraswati has moved an application seeking bail in a molestation case. He is running in judicial custody after police interrogation.
The bail application came up for hearing before the Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Atul Ahlawat. He recused himself from hearing the matter.
On an earlier occasion, he had recused from hearing the anticipatory bail plea of Saraswati in a financial irregularities case.
Senior advocate Ajay Burman appeared for Chaitanyanand Saraswati to argue the bail.
Patiala house court on October 3 remanded Chaitanyanand to 14 days' judicial custody in a molestation case.
Chaitanyanand Saraswati was interrogated by the Delhi Police for 5 days of custodial remand. It is alleged that he molested 17 girls in an educational institute in the Vasant Kunj area.
Chaitanyanand Saraswati alias Parthasarthy is in judicial custody till October 17.
Chaitanyananda Saraswati was arrested on September 27 in Agra and was brought to Delhi. Delhi police had produced him before the court, and he was granted a 5-day remand on September 28.
His earlier plea seeking anticipatory bail in a financial irregularities case was rejected by the Patiala House Court.
The Patiala House Court on Wednesday asked Delhi police to file a comprehensive reply on the application of Chaitanyananda Saraswati for a sanyasi robe and spiritual books, mentioning the rule of jail manual. The application will be heard again on Monday.
In another application seeking the supply of a copy of the seizure memo to Chaitanyanand Saraswati, the court asked the police to file a proper reply. This application is listed for a hearing on Friday.
Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Animesh Kumar pointed out that the reply filed by the Investigation Officer (IO) is not proper, and there is no mention of any provision of the jail manual on clothes and spiritual books.
The court said, "Prima facie, it appears that there is no prohibition on clothes and books, so how can I prohibit?"
Advocate Manish Gandhi, counsel for the accused, also referred to the jail manual and submitted that there is no prohibition on an undertrial prisoner wearing clothes of their choice.
During the hearing, the counsel for the accused also orally prayed for a direction for providing extra bedding as the accused is over 65 years of age and has ailments.