The judge sent a letter to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge and Chief Justice of the High Court stating that he was resigning on personal grounds.
Retired metropolitan sessions judge Ravinder Reddy, who delivered the verdict in the Mecca Masjid blast case acquitting all the accused, wants to join the BJP, a party leader said. “When (BJP president) Amit Shah visited Hyderabad on September 14, the retired judge took an appointment and met him. He wants to join the party. He said he can contribute to the party as an intellectual or join electoral politics,” Telangana BJP chief Dr K Laxman said on Friday. “It is not yet decided whether Reddy would be admitted into the party and, if admitted, what his role would be,” he added.
“When he met Amit Shah, he expressed his desire to work for a nationalist and patriotic party like the BJP. He said the party can utilise his services as it pleases,” a BJP leader said.
On April 16, Reddy, who was IVth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge and Judge of NIA Court, resigned after acquitting all five accused in the Mecca Masjid blast case, including Swami Aseemanand. The judge sent a letter to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge and Chief Justice of the High Court stating that he was resigning on personal grounds.
In his judgment, Reddy stated that the prosecution could not prove that Aseemanand and others were involved in planning and executing the bomb blast at Mecca Masjid on May 18, 2007. He noted that just by being a member of the RSS, one does not become communal. “The RSS is not a proscribed organisation. If anyone works for it, it does not mean it gives scope to become communal and anti-social,” the judge observed.
After delivering the verdict, judge Reddy resigned. He was at that time under investigation by the HC on a complaint that he showed “undue haste” in granting anticipatory bail to an accused in a land dispute case. While the inquiry was going on, the HC accepted his resignation.
Reddy was among 11 judges suspended by the HC in June 2016 for protesting the appointment of judges who hail from Andhra Pradesh to the courts in Telangana. It was later revoked.
Source: The India Express
