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	HC Judge Withdraws from Sister Abhaya Case Times of India January 15, 2009 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/HC_judge_withdraws_from_Sister_Abhaya_case/articleshow/3979284.cms THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Sister Abhaya murder case witnessed dramatic moments on Wednesday with the monitoring judge Justice R Basant taking himself out of the case after differences with a fellow judge. The High Court also initiated contempt proceedings against a daily that commented critically on its order granting bail to the accused. Justice Basant informed the two sides that the case would hereafter be supervised by a division bench. He said he was pained by the developments of the past few days and was acting so to preserve the image of the judiciary. His withdrawal comes after an unfortunate controversy that began with the granting of bail to the accused sister Sephy and priests Thomas Kottur and Jose Poothrukkayil by Justice K Hema. Justice Hema while granting bail had rubbished the agency's claims about the case and the accused and even sought to reignite the suicide theory. The CBI also vainly opposed the court's extensive reliance on the case diary and the confidential statements of witnesses while granting bail. Jurists differed on whether it was necessary for a bail court to delve so deep when the trial had not even commenced. Though the CBI moved acting Chief Justice J B Koshy for a change of bench, the plea was turned down. Justice Hema also came down on the probe team and demanded its reconstitution. The court also criticised the media and said the CBI seemed to be following the media's lead. This was sharply in contrast with the views of two earlier monitoring judges, who had praised the present CBI team and the media for persisting with the matter. Coming at a time when the probe had finally started gathering steam after 16 years, the order had the CBI in a bind. But when the case came up before Justice Basant, he sought to clear the air and asked the present team to continue. He also said there was a difference between bail court and writ court and that CBI could go by the writ court. A few days later, Justice Hema while hearing a totally unconnected matter observed that only she or the Supreme Court could clarify her bail order and that no other judge in the high court could do so. She also stated that there was no differentiation as bail or writ court. On Wednesday, the high court initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against 'Kerala Kaumudi', a leading Malayalam daily, for an editorial criticizing the granting of bail. In another significant development, Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan speaking in New Delhi joined issue and ticked off judges against commenting on their own orders after pronouncing them. However, he said it was only natural for two judges to have different opinions in a case.
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