Justice Mehta breaks his silence in this interview with The Indian Express.
•The controversy surrounding your appointment refuses to die down. The National Minority Commission said yesterday that your appointment means that minorities will lose confidence in the judiciary.
I don’t know why this is being raised again and again. It hurts me, because all of this is untrue. All I know is that my conscience is clear.
•The demand for your ouster is based on the Tehelka transcripts and the broadcast tapes, which show Babu Bajrangi, prime accused in the Naroda-Patiya massacre saying that you gave him bail “without even looking into the file”.
I was a judge in the High Court and was doing my judicial duty. It was just like any other case. It did not merit any special consideration from me in any way.
•You were a sitting judge of the Gujarat High Court when the tapes were broadcast. You could have issued a contempt notice against the publication or the channel. Why did you not do anything to clear your name?
You have to understand that as a judge I had to remain stoical and silent. Any action from my part would have invited more mud slinging. Also, as I had said, my conscience is clear.
•The whole issue seems to revolve around the bail given to Babu Bajrangi in October 2002. How do you see it?
(Smiles) It’s been a long time. I don’t remember the details. I had been a criminal lawyer for a long time and believed that bail should be given as far as possible, for if proven guilty, the person will anyway have to serve the sentence. For doing this I was often called a soft judge.
•Wasn’t that bail order politically motivated?
It is just not possible. Somebody would have had to tell the Chief Justice to put the matter before me, and then told both of us to give a particular order.
•One of the questions raised was that it was not a reasoned order. The order was oral and did not specify the legal grounds on which the bail was given.
One of the reasons is that the parties did not press for a reasoned order. At that time, it was common practice in the High Court to give bail through oral orders. Later on the Supreme Court directives came and the system was changed. But it was the practice there at that time.
•Did the public prosecutor oppose the grant of bail?
It’s been a long time. I don’t remember.
•Babu Bajrangi was accused of a heinous crime. Giving bail in cases of murder and rape are frowned upon. Was that not the scenario here?
See, I don’t remember the details of the case. But suppose there is a rampaging mob and someone sees you as part of that group, does that mean you were also indulging in the activity?
•The charge against you is that the Tehelka tapes that name you are under scrutiny at the Commission of which you are a member. Doesn’t that amount to judging your own case.
The bail given to Babu Bajrangi is not in the terms of reference of this Commission. Tell me, if somebody sitting in some corner of the world says you are a murderer, do you automatically become an accused?
•Where exactly does the Commission stand at the moment? How much longer will it take to reach a conclusion?
Well, all the evidence is before us. Now we are writing the report. I have taken over from where Justice Shah left off.
•You have been called a ‘tainted’ judge, even a ‘communal judge’.
(Laughs) Sometimes, when passing through Juhapura (a Muslim ghetto in Ahmedabad) I used to joke that, probably, half the people there are free because I gave them bail. But seriously, my guru was a Muslim; I lived at his feet for 20 years. Do you think I would have done that if I had communal sentiments?
