A Delhi High Court judge who was hearing Asif Iqbal Tanha's plea against the "leak" of his alleged confession statement by the Delhi Police to the media, in its 2020 Northeast Delhi riots "larger conspiracy probe", has recused from hearing the matter. Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani had on an earlier hearing indicated that he may have to recuse from hearing the matter after News Broadcasters & Digital Association moved an intervention application stating that he has had a "past association" with the organisation. Thereafter arguments were made by senior advocate Siddharth Agarwal who appeared for Tanha, additional solicitor general Sanjay Jain for Delhi police and advocate Rajat Arora for NBDA on March 21. In his April 12 order, Justice Bhambhani noted Aggarwal's scathing opposition to the intervention applications, submitting that an intervention application is never entertained in criminal matters and that such applications in the case have been filed "belatedly and mala-fidé solely as an instrument of Bench hunting". Justice Bhambhani, however, said, "Be that as it may, after giving its anxious consideration to the matter, what prevails with the court is that no act on the part of a court must in any manner have a deleterious impact on the credibility of the justice system. Regardless of the view that this court may hold in relation to the intervention applications filed, that view must yield to the view which better subserves to preserve the credibility of the system, which credibility derives not just from fairness in fact, but equally importantly, from fairness in perception. As this court has expressed in the course of the various hearings, even deciding the intervention applications, whether one way or the other, must be informed by the same overarching principle". The judge, thereafter, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the submissions, and in the "larger interests of the overall credibility of the justice system", recused from hearing the case. "In view of the above, subject to orders of Hon’ble the Chief Justice, list before some other Bench on 19th April 2023," the HC said. In his 2020 plea, Tanha has alleged that the timing of the “leak” of the purported statement, which is inadmissible in law, to the media and “publication of this false information purportedly from the police files, at a time when bail application of the petitioner is pending consideration before the trial court, creates a reasonable apprehension that the process of justice is being attempted to be subverted”.
