Judge recuses from hearing Kanda’s plea

A Delhi High Court judge on Friday recused himself from hearing the bail plea of Gopal Kanda, the former Haryana minister accused of abetting one-time employee Geetika Sharma’s suicide.

A Delhi High Court judge on Friday recused himself from hearing the bail plea of Gopal Kanda, the former Haryana minister accused of abetting one-time employee Geetika Sharma’s suicide.

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Justice PK Bhasin, without citing any reason, listed “the matter before some other bench for Tuesday”.

Kanda had on Monday moved the high court against the September 20 order of a trial court that dismissed his bail plea. The trial court had also stressed the need for further investigations in view of a police report that Sharma was pregnant in March.

Sharma was found dead on August 5 at her Ashok Vihar residence in northwest Delhi. In her purported suicide note, the 23-year-old accused Kanda and aide Aruna Chaddah of “harassment”. Both have denied the charge.

Kanda had surrendered to police on August 18 after his plea for anticipatory bail was rejected by a trial court and the high court. He has been in prison since.

Chaddah is currently in jail as well. Her bail pleas were rejected by the trial court on September 7 and again on October 15. She had sought bail on the grounds that she is the single parent of a seven-year-old girl, and also has old parents to look after.

On October 6, the city police filed a chargesheet before the trial court naming Kanda and Chaddah for inflicting “a series of wilful and malicious acts of mental torture, threat, blackmail and stress” on Sharma which led to her suicide.

The police accused the duo of “harassing, conspiring, intimidating and creating an atmosphere of terror and continuous pursuit" in the victim's mind that "she found no option but to end her life”.