Lucknow, February 13 Justice Pankaj Bhatia of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court recused himself from hearing bail pleas on Friday, stating that certain recent observations made by the Supreme Court had a "huge demoralizing and chilling effect" on him.
The judge declined to hear a bail plea filed by Rakesh Tiwari, and urged the high court chief justice to withdraw the bail roster from him.
"Although it is well known that there is no judge who can claim that his order has never been set aside or interfered with, I also feel from the perusal of the Supreme Court judgment that the bail order granting bail was apparently subject to interference.
"However, the observations made by the Supreme Court in the judgment, particularly in paras 4 and 29, have had a huge demoralizing and chilling effect on me," Justice Bhatia said.
The development follows a February 9 verdict of the apex court in a case filed by Chetram Verma, who challenged a bail order granted by Justice Bhatia on October 10, 2025.
In that case, the high court had granted bail to a man accused in a dowry death case in which his wife died due to asphyxia caused by strangulation.
The accused had been in jail since July 27, 2025, and had no prior criminal history, factors noted in the bail order.
Setting aside the high court's order, the Supreme Court observed, "The impugned order of October 10, 2025, is one of the most shocking and disappointing orders that we have come across over a period of time."
The apex court questioned what had weighed with the high court in exercising its discretion in favour of the accused in a serious offence like dowry death.
After quashing the bail order, it directed that a copy of its judgment be sent to the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court for perusal regarding the manner in which the bail order had been passed.
Referring to the top court’s observations, Justice Bhatia said he was not inclined to take up bail matters any further and requested the chief justice not to allocate him such cases for hearing.