Court dismisses Satyender Jain’s plea to transfer cases against him to another judge

Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Wednesday dismissed Delhi minister Satyender Kumar Jain’s plea to transfer two cases of alleged disproportionate assets against him to another judge. While dismissing Jain’s plea, the court said “strong observations by a judge could not be the basis to conclude that the trial was not being conducted in a fair and impartial manner.”.
District Judge Anju Bajaj Chandna further said that “During the course of the hearing, some orders may favour the prosecution and some may favour the defence but such orders cannot be made on the basis of attributing bias to the judge concerned”
The two cases against the AAP leader Satendra Jain were related to allegedly acquiring assets disproportionate to his known sources of income between February 14, 2015, when he took oath as a minister in the Government of NCT of Delhi, and May 31, 2017.
While the CBI is probing the alleged corruption, the ED is investigating the money laundering aspect.
The district judge said it was not disputed that the court was giving a hearing to both sides and that principles of natural justice were being duly followed.
“I am of the opinion that apprehension of bias as expressed by the applicant has no merit or substance,” the judge said.
Jain had urged the district judge to send the case to another court, alleging that the judge currently hearing the matter has “pre-decided the matter”.
The CBI filed a charge sheet on December 3, 2018 against Satyendar Kumar Jain, Poonam Jain, Ajit Prasad Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain, Vaibhav Jain, and Ankush Jain.
The ED had initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of a First Information Report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 24, 2017 “under Section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988” against the six accused.