Supreme Court rejects Prajwal Revanna plea to shift trial from MP-MLA court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a plea by former Janata Dal (Secular) MP Prajwal Revanna seeking transfer of two criminal cases from the special MP/MLA court in Bengaluru to another court alleging judicial bias.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said remarks made by a trial judge cannot be treated as evidence of bias and reiterated that judicial officers must not be undermined through unfounded allegations. Dismissing the plea, the bench said it had no reason to believe the trial court would be influenced by Revanna’s conviction in an earlier case and noted that conclusions in the pending matters would be based solely on evidence.

Senior advocates Siddharth Luthra and Siddarth Dave, appearing for Revanna, claimed the judge had made adverse comments against counsel. Justice Bagchi responded that lawyers cannot "hold judicial officers to ransom', adding that the remarks reflected observations made earlier by the high court.

CJI Kant said Revanna’s counsel may offer an apology before the high court, calling the allegations "most unethical', and stressed the need to maintain the morale of the district judiciary. He also noted that errors may occur due to workload but are routinely corrected.

The Karnataka High Court had earlier dismissed Revanna’s transfer plea, finding no material to show bias.