Curious call from 'MLA' makes judge furious in Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: Scandalized by a curious call made to a judge about a pending case, the Gujarat high court on Monday ordered an inquiry into who the caller was with the observation that nobody can "try to pollute the stream of justice".
Justice Bela Trivedi received a call on Monday morning, with regard to an anticipatory bail plea and the caller told her that he was Petlad MLA Niranjan Patel. The judge immediately stopped him and told him that he should not have called for a case at all. She also received a message later, about the pending case, which was filed by one Vijay Shah, who was booked with four others by Petlad town police for trying to attack cops and cause a hindrance in their duty during the lockdown on May 1.
The judge termed the incident "unprecedented" and upon preliminary inquiry, it was found that the mobile number was registered in the name of 'Tosif Faiz Xerox'. The judge was "furious" about the incident and when the case was heard, Justice Trivedi asked Shah's advocate Ashish Dagli what the connection between the petitioner and the MLA was. The lawyer told the HC that there was none.
The court decided to hear the case half-an-hour later, and senior advocate Nirupam Nanavaty appeared for the petitioner and submitted that though the petitioner and the MLA do not have any connection, the MLA was interested in getting him arrested.
On the other hand, the MLA denied having made any call to any judge. "I have been in public life for the last 30 years. I know that we must not call a judge. Why should I call a high court judge when I don't know anything about the petitioner or the case. Someone must have played mischief by calling the judge in my name. There should be an inquiry into this incident," Patel told TOI.
Meanwhile, the "furious" judge ordered the registrar (IT) and registrar (vigilance) to inquire into this episode and come up with a report on Tuesday.