A judge who had acquitted all the accused belonging to Hindu extremist groups in Mecca Masjid bomb blast case earlier this year has decided to join the BJP.
In a development, which has created a stir in political and legal circles in Hyderabad former IVth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge K Ravinder Reddy visited the BJP state office and met the senior party leader and former Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya.
Party sources said that he had come to the office with the plans of formally joining the party but was asked by the party leaders to wait for sometime.
In his judgment of April 19 he had acquitted all the five accused belonging to Hindu groups including Swami Aseemanand alias Nabha Kumar Sircar, a RSS member citing lack of sufficient proof and submitted his resignation soon after pronouncing the verdict.
Nine people were killed when a bomb exploded in the court yard of Mecca Masjid soon after Friday congregation. Later the CBI and the National Investigation Agency had arrested members of various Hindu groups including RSS, Lokesh Sharma and Devender Gupta.
Ravinder Reddy told the media that he had come to the BJP office to join the party on the invitation of the BJP leaders. “I had come after meeting the BJP President Amit Shah in Hyderabad last week and was also in touch with Bandaru Dattatreya. I had come on their invitation to join the party”, he said.
Sources in the state BJP office said that no date was fixed for his formal joining and Dattatreya asked him to wait till a formal communication from the central leadership. Sources said that there was a need for some more discussions with in the party and all the state leaders including state president K Lakshman need to be taken into confidence.
Defending his decision to join the BJP, Ravinder Reddy said, “BJP is a patriotic party free of any dynastic culture. The party is committed to check anti national elements and to work for the national integration”, he said. Ravinder Reddy said that he wants to contest the coming Assembly elections preferably from his home district Karimnagar or Medak.
When asked whether his move will not caste aspersions and raise doubts about his judgment acquitting the accused in the Mecca Masjid blast case, he said, “This has nothing to do with the judgment. I discharged my duties as a judge with integrity and honesty and delivered the judgment. I am now retired from service to serve the country and the people”.
Though Ravinder Reddy sought to rule out the link between the Mecca Masjid blast case judgment and his decision to join BJP, there was a criticism from different quarters.
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president and MP Asaduddin Owaisi said, “We knew where he was going. Now he will be rewarded by the BJP leadership”.
Referring to the retired judge’s decision to contest the coming assembly elections, he said, “I am sure Aseemanand and his friends will campaign for him and I hope the retired judge will lose his deposit”.
Civil Liberties Monitoring committee (CLMC) has demanded the Supreme Court and the High Court to take notice of the strange case of judge Ravinder Reddy and order a fresh hearing of the Mecca Masjid blast case.
Committee general secretary Lateef Mohammed Khan said that during the hearing of the case itself suspicions were expressed that the judge was not of clear mind. “Now this has been vindicated by his decision to join BJP”. He alleged that there was a total collusion between the public prosecutor who was a BJP leader and investigators and under pressure from Hindutva organisations the accused were saved in a pre planned Mannar. “This raises a serious question of influence of Hindutva organisations on the lower courts and the Higher courts should take note of it and take action against such judges”.
